Zuma surrounded by wrong people, SACP
…The public sector strike turned ugly because President Jacob
Zuma was surrounded by people who failed to advise him correctly, the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal said yesterday (Wednesday).
“The strike has gone ugly because the president is sitting with
wrong people. He is surrounded by people who don’t advise him
correctly and that make his office vulnerable,” said South African
Communist Party (SACP) provincial secretary Themba Mthembu.
He was speaking during the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union general council in Durban yesterday afternoon.
Mthembu said if Zuma had good advisers, they could have advised
him that the strike would be nasty because workers’ pockets had
been hit by the recession.
“Zuma should have been advised that there was a need to handle
wage negotiations professionally,” said Mthembu.
He described Public Service and Administration Minister Richard
Baloyi as a bad negotiator who caused militancy among striking
workers.
“Baloyi is a bad negotiator. The way he has handled the strike
and negotiations was like he was watching the Olympics,” said
Mthembu.
He called for the speedy resolution of the wage dispute.
“Sadly, for now, it seems that the cowboys are in charge.” – Sapa
