News24 reports that analysts have dismissed labour federation Cosatu’s countrywide mass action on Wednesday as "nothing new" and say the marches will have very little impact on President Jacob Zuma’s political fortunes.
Scores of people participated in the marches in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and others added their voices to the protests in several other cities. Streets around the country were painted red as protesters made their way to various state-owned institutions and financial institutions to hand over their memorandum. But political analyst Ralph Mathekga said Cosatu's calls have all been heard before. "It is a well-known position within the tripartite alliance that they do have a problem with Zuma, so I don’t think that there was an expectation that this march will bring about [an] outright reaction in the form of [Zuma's resignation]." Mathekga also said it was well-known that the president of Cosatu, Sdumo Dlamini’s hands had been twisted on the matter. Fellow political analyst Ebrahim Fakir agreed with Mathekga, adding that he thought very little about the impact of the march.
- Read this report by Amanda Khoza in full at News24
- Read too, Cosatu’s Dlamini backs state capture protest and call for Zuma to step down, at BusinessLive
- And also, SACP confident of 'positive response' to Cosatu march, at SABC News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page