Pityana lambasted by Cosatu for ‘phony outrage’ against Zuma

Save South Africa convenor Sipho Pityana has come under attack by the trade union federation Cosatu for what it called his “phony outrage” against President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday.

Pityana‚ in an address‚ called Zuma a limping president who was not trusted by his own party. He said that Save SA had no confidence in the president’s ability to reflect reality in his State pof the Nation Address on Thursday.

“He is a leader not befitting the honour of presidency…Nepotism‚ corruption and state capture are the real state of the nation‚ and [he] is at the centre of it. Only when Jacob Zuma goes will South Africa be saved‚” he told hundreds of people gathered at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town for Save SA’s “Real State of the Nation Address”.

Cosatu said it had noted the “slanderous” statements directed at Zuma with “amazement”.

“While‚ COSATU believes that all elected officials are fair game to criticism and should be held accountable and in healthy contempt by all the citizens‚ who elected them; we find Mr Sipho Pityana [‘s] sanctimonious hypocrisy unbearable‚” the federation said.

It charged that Pityana‚ whom it accused of “just singing for his supper”‚ had been presenting himself in public as “this terribly radical‚ courageous and principled leader‚ who is prepared to speak truth to power”.

“The sad reality is that Mr Pityana is part of the establishment‚ and a spineless and subservient apologist for this country’s degenerate forces of capitalism‚” Cosatu asserted.

- TMG Digital