Sign up with GoogleA Jacob Zuma presidency would be disastrous for South Africa's economy and yet the business sector remained silent on the issue, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter on the DA's website, Leon urged business leaders to speak out against the possibility of the African National Congress deputy president taking up the country's presidency as the "useful idiot" of the left
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed, anti-Mbeki songs were sung on the floor, and Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi was so fiercely heckled while attempting to defend government's economic policies that he was forced to cut short his speech.
The widely-held perception that Zuma would be a hostage of the left was given credence by Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who said he would remind Zuma, if he became president, "there is no such thing as a free lunch".
Leon said Vavi would expect the new president to nationalise "exactly what the Freedom Charter said. The mining industry, the banks, the leading monopolies ... We want the state to play a much bigger role in the economy than it does now. That is the bottom line".
This was reflected in the final declarations of Cosatu's congress, one of which urged "collective ownership through the state, worker control and co-ops, including nationalisation of mining and other commanding heights of the economy as provided in the Freedom Charter".
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=285352
In his weekly newsletter on the DA's website, Leon urged business leaders to speak out against the possibility of the African National Congress deputy president taking up the country's presidency as the "useful idiot" of the left
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed, anti-Mbeki songs were sung on the floor, and Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi was so fiercely heckled while attempting to defend government's economic policies that he was forced to cut short his speech.
The widely-held perception that Zuma would be a hostage of the left was given credence by Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who said he would remind Zuma, if he became president, "there is no such thing as a free lunch".
Leon said Vavi would expect the new president to nationalise "exactly what the Freedom Charter said. The mining industry, the banks, the leading monopolies ... We want the state to play a much bigger role in the economy than it does now. That is the bottom line".
This was reflected in the final declarations of Cosatu's congress, one of which urged "collective ownership through the state, worker control and co-ops, including nationalisation of mining and other commanding heights of the economy as provided in the Freedom Charter".
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=285352
