Nzimande labels current politi

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 29, 2017: Blade Nzimande(R) and Jeff Radebe(L) attend the funeral service of, ANC stalwart, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada on March 29, 2017. Family and friends bid farewell to the beloved Rivonia trialist, former political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist who passed away early yesterday morning. (Photo by Gallo Images/ Beeld / Felix Dlangamandla)

Nzimande labels current political situation ‘lowest point’ of his time in the alliance [video]

Blade has spoken out yet again…

Nzimande labels current politi

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 29, 2017: Blade Nzimande(R) and Jeff Radebe(L) attend the funeral service of, ANC stalwart, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada on March 29, 2017. Family and friends bid farewell to the beloved Rivonia trialist, former political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist who passed away early yesterday morning. (Photo by Gallo Images/ Beeld / Felix Dlangamandla)

Political analysts have always noted that Zuma has been able to survive as president as a result of the support base he has built around him. The president has spent over 10 years building the Zuma ‘loyalist” base, that long-term building has paid off for him, big time.

Since he initiated the recall of Thabo Mbeki, JZ has always made sure to have enough numbers on his side in order to do what he pleases. Only in the last few months have the cracks in that support base really begun to open wide enough to put a substantial strain on the president.

An interesting trend seems to have appeared over the last few weeks, ANC members are slowly starting to feel safe enough to openly proclaim their allegiance to the “Anti-Zuma group”. Would they doing this if they thought Zuma would remain in power until 2019? That seems unlikely.

The 1st of May saw COSATU host their annual worker’s day event, the group had just weeks ago called for Zuma to step down, now he was the keynote speaker at their event. Many leaders in COSATU had publicly stated that Zuma should not attend the event. When Zuma arrived he was met with boos from groups in the crowd and even told to “voetsek”, leaders tried and failed to call the crowd to order as Zuma watched on only a few meters away.

COSATU ended up taking the decision to scrap all speeches at the event, therefore ending the day’s events in a painfully abrupt fashion. This was an embarrassment for the President, Zuma has been known to handle scandals but embarrassments leave a different kind of political mark. A mark that will only strengthen the Ramaphosa camp at the ANC elective conference coming up this year.

Zuma’s cabinet member and Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande attended the event in his role as General Secretary of the SACP, (who have also called for Zuma to step down) he spoke to the media after the president left the venue. Nzimande labelled the day’s events a “final wake-up call” for the tripartite alliance.

He even went as far as calling the current situation the “lowest point of my history with the alliance”. Watch Nzimande’s stern words during his interview captured by TimesLIVE, below.