JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday said the ruling party African National Congress (ANC) should follow the party's tradition and allow the deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to be the next president.
Cosatu was responding to the interview President Zuma did with the local radio station. President Zuma said his party ANC has been ready for the women president for years. Zuma said it is not the ANC tradition that the deputy president would automatically become president.
Two names have been suggested as possible candidates to succeed Zuma. These are the deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and Zuma's former wife, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is the African Union (AU) Commission chairperson.
Zuma said it's up to his party to choose who will succeed him. Cosatu then disagreed with him. Sizwe Pamla, Cosatu national spokesperson said it has always been the ANC tradition for deputy president to automatically become president.
Speaking to Xinhua, Pamla said Zuma was a beneficiary of that tradition that a deputy president automatically becomes president. "While we agree with him that there is no existing policy on the succession, we find it curious that he argues against the existence of a practice that the deputy president succeeds the president in the ANC," he said.
He said Zuma was elevated to be the ANC president in 2007 automatically and he should have raised the issue then. Pamla also told Xinhua that when he (Zuma) was elevated there were some people who were educated and intelligent but allowed him to follow the tradition of the party. Pamla said, "Yes we think as the tradition Cyril Ramaphosa must succeed Zuma."
The ruling party is in a tripartite alliance with Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Cosatu and SACP always campaign and encourage their members to vote for the ANC.
Pamla said, "Cosatu would have deeply appreciated it, if the president of the ANC had shared this understanding and wisdom with the nation in 2007. Millions of ANC and Alliance members ,including general supporters came out to support him, and ultimately managed to elevate him to his current position using the same argument that it was customary for deputies to succeed the presidents in the ANC. We find it insincere that he never spoke out then and he never saw anything wrong with that argument at the time."
Zuma said any man and woman of good standing can lead the party if elected. He said there is no policy or tradition that his deputy should take over. He said Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma fought for the country even when she was a student well before she became his wife.
The labor federation also warned that if the ANC does not change its stance there will be no unity in the 2019 elections. They said by disagreeing with ANC it does not mean they are fighting it. Pamla said they are equals in their relationship with the ANC and they have a right to have a say on who leads the party. Cosatu invited the ruling party to engage them in the succession issue.
The ANC have warned their members to make pronouncements on who they want to lead the party as it is premature to do so. The ANC Women's league have chosen Dr. Dlamini-Zuma as the next president. The ANC will elect the next president at an elective congress in December 2017.
