Zuma will not address Cosatu's Workers Day rally in Gauteng
Trade union federation Cosatu in Gauteng says President Jacob Zuma will not be addressing its May Day rally on Monday.
General Secretary Duminsani Dakile confirmed this at a press briefing on their May Day state of readiness.
"The speakers of the day will be the General Secretary of Cosatu, ANC General Secretary, the SACP first deputy general secretary, a BDS board member and the ANC Gauteng chairperson. Comrade Jacob Zuma will not be addressing our rally in Gauteng."
This comes after a letter from affiliate Nehawu was leaked to the media, in which it asks Cosatu to not allow Zuma to address the main rally in the Free State.
May Day rallies will take place across the country, with the main event in the Free State.
Dakile says the march in Gauteng will confront monopoly capital at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
"We are confronting the JSE to raise a number of issues, among them being the moral issues around CEO of companies, like the former CEO of Shoprite who was paid over R100 million a year. This happens while workers are being retrenched and replaced with automatic teller machines."
Dakile says if the ANC cannot continue to sit with its hands folded, if it is serious about radical economic transformation.
"The ANC must begin to nationalise key sectors of our economy in particular the mines. Our economy cannot continue to be foreign owned. Land must be distributed among all the people of this country. There will be no radical economic transformation if government fails to intervene and curb the ongoing job losses," says Dakile.