The Citizen reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has declared war on anyone calling on President Jacob Zuma to step down, saying he was democratically elected by the people and would be removed by them.  

Addressing the union’s youth structure national conference on Thursday, NUM general secretary David Sipunzi said:  “Today, we are being told by the enemy that we must overthrow the people’s president.  Whether we like it or not, Zuma as the president of South Africa was elected by the people, not even by the ANC.  My belief is that it is the people that will take Zuma out of office.”  Sipunzi also admitted that NUM, which is facing challenges, had lost the respect and militancy it used to have.  He said the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) was eating into NUM’s membership base.

• Read this report by Ngwako Modjadji in full at The Citizen

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