DURBAN – Cosatu KZN chairperson Phumlani Duma sparked the ire of delegates at the ANC KZN 9th Provincial Conference on Friday when he slammed the use of names such as the Taliban and Ankole to describe factions vying for power in the province.
The Ankole faction is seen to be aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa. It backs Sihle Zikalala who is seeking re-election as provincial chairperson and Mdumiseni Ntuli. He is also looking to return as provincial secretary.
The Taliban faction is seen to be pro-former president Jacob Zuma and it has pitched senior KZN member of the provincial legislature, Siboniso Duma, to become provincial chairperson.
Duma said: “It’s not correct comrades; let’s make sure that we speak of one organisation which is the ANC. If we talk about RET, let’s talk about it as a policy of the ANC, not as an organisation within the ANC.
“Let’s not talk about things that we don’t know about such as ‘Friends Like These’, ‘Taliban’ and ‘Ankole’.”
The delegates did not take kindly to Duma saying this and heckled him, forcing him to cut short his message of support.
Earlier in his message of support on behalf of Cosatu to the ANC’s 9th provincial conference, currently under way at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, Duma called on leaders to also avoid careerism as a way of seeking positions in the ANC.
Duma was delivering the message following the official opening of the much-awaited conference on Friday afternoon.
“Cosatu is pleading with comrades to avoid careerism as a way of making (it seem as if) you want to lead in the ANC, because you see yourself as a potential chairperson or secretary. You must see yourself as a member until comrades see you as a leader.
“What we have seen in the media, particularly the overstating of leadership towards this conference, we hope it’s not true. We believe it shouldn’t be true that comrades are aligning themselves to names that are foreign to this organisation.”
Duma called on government and law enforcement agencies to arrest perpetrators of political killings, saying that buying of innocent people to kill political opponents was making those people who were bought “dirty”.
“The danger and the pain you are causing to those orphans is insurmountable. Our government, our law enforcement must make sure that they arrest those people. There must be no political killing in our time,” Duma said.
He lashed out at municipalities in the province, including Newcastle, where more than 220 workers had been expelled, and Ugu, where more than 100 had been expelled.
He also slammed the King Cetshwayo district, that had fired workers.
“Comrades, let's not use our powers to deal with people where we differ politically. If you have an issue with a comrade, deal with that worker as a worker and their conditions of service that govern employment conditions.
“We are equally not happy with the issue of the erosion of collective bargaining, where we have seen our government reneging on the resolutions taken at the collective Bargaining Council… like resolution one of 2018 where the public servants were not paid what was due to them and what had been agreed upon,” Duma said.
He added that with the unemployment rate skyrocketing it was critical for the Tripartite Alliance to work together.
“We wish to see that what the government will do, is curb unemployment in this province. We are concerned about what should happen to people in rural areas, who are farmers, to ensure that their crops and products are sold to big food chains,” Duma said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE