Cosatu march damp squib in PE

[caption id="attachment_223780" align="aligncenter" width="598"] Cosatu demonstrators gather in Baakens Street after walking from Russell Road to the City Hall to deliver a memorandum against state capture and corruption to the mayor’s representative yesterday
Picture: Mark West[/caption]

Numsa influence cited for low turnout as thousands show up in other cities

The Cosatu march in Port Elizabeth yesterday was a lacklustre affair with a low turnout, while marches in other cities across the country drew thousands. About 400 people took part in the march in the city, a poor showing compared with previous marches.

Traffic in the city was disrupted briefly as the group walked from Russell Road to the City Hall, where they handed a memorandum of grievances to Selwyn Willis, the manager of petitions in the speaker’s office.

: Marchers proceed down Russell Road. 📹

— HeraldLIVE (@HeraldPE)

Magijimana Doto, 59, said he had decided to take part because the country urgently needed change.

“We want action to be taken after the [former] public protector [Thuli Madonsela] released her state capture findings,” he said. The report alleged widespread improper and unethical conduct by politicians and businesses, and Madonsela recommended that a commission of inquiry into state capture be instituted.

Singing songs denigrating President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family, the marchers also praised Zuma’s deputy, Cyril Rampahosa.

They made it clear that they could not sit back while the country was “ravaged by a foreign Indian family”.

Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi, who was present at the Port Elizabeth march, launched a scathing attack on the Gupta family and those involved in corruption.

Nxesi, who is also deputy chairman of the SACP, said: “We have gathered here to say down with state capture and corruption.

“Those behind it must be arrested. The Gupta family came here to mess [up] our country.

“They have caused huge divisions in the country through their propaganda news channel. They must go.”

Cosatu Port Elizabeth chairman Lizo Vakala said it was clear that state capture, labour brokering and corruption were antirevolutionary.

“Money earmarked for uplifting our people has been channelled to certain families,” he said.

“We are against corruption and state capture.”

He also took a swipe at the Nelson Mandela Bay DA-led coalition government, saying its members were “naive to the plight of the poor”.

: The marchers have reached City Hall

— HeraldLIVE (@HeraldPE)

Meanwhile, in Johannesburg, thousands of workers gathered outside Cosatu House in Braamfontein, singing struggle songs and calling for Zuma to step down.

Cosatu has been urging Zuma to step down since the president’s last cabinet reshuffle, when former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was axed.

SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, who addressed thousands at Bank City in Johannesburg, questioned why the specialist police unit, the Hawks, had not acted against alleged corruption.

“Let us make a vow as workers that our money, which has been stolen and is in Dubai, be traced and let us get it back – every cent of it,” he said. “We are saying to the Hawks‚ why are you sitting back and not acting against this broad looting of the state? “Why is the NPA not acting?” Thousands of people also took to the streets in Cape Town, East London and Mthatha.

– Additional reporting, TimesLIVE