‘Weak’ and ‘polarising’ Zwane must go, says Cosatu

Cosatu has called for Mosebenzi Zwane to resign or be removed from his position, saying that it has no confidence in him as the minister of mineral resources.

Following a three-day sitting of the federation’s central executive committee, the trade union giant resolved to submit a vote of no confidence in Zwane.

“He is a weak and a polarising figure that has failed to deal with the biggest issues like retrenchments, illegal mining and the ongoing violence. His collusion with other unions to isolate and attack the National Union of Mineworkers was the last straw for the central executive committee,” said a scathing statement issued by the federation.

Zwane was also a person of interest in the state of capture report. Although the report had no adverse findings against anyone, Zwane could be implicated.

The minister has close ties to the controversial Gupta family.

A few months ago he caused mayhem when he issued a statement on behalf of Cabinet calling for a probe into banks that had cut ties with Gupta-owned company Oakbay Investments.

When asked in Parliament yesterday about where things stood with Zwane following that statement, President Jacob Zuma brushed it aside, saying that Zwane had apologised and had been accordingly reprimanded. The matter, according to the president, was closed.

The reprimand was not sufficient for Cosatu: “We are calling for him to step aside or to be dismissed.”

The same media briefing also pronounced on the ANC’s 2017 succession debate with the federation coming out openly in support of deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa taking over the top job.

	S'thembile Cele Journalist City Press p: +27 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: Sthembile.Cele@citypress.co.za
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