[This rally took place yesterday and shows some real anger, and real grass-roots support for Zuma. THE CITIZEN newspaper had headlines saying that the Blacks were chanting “down with Mbeki”. That is not mentioned here. But other events are mentioned in this report.

What I am finding rather strange is how COSATU and the SA Communist Party are welcomed by the crowd.

As I read this report… I am tempted to think… Zuma might just knock Mbeki down… COSATU and the SA Communist Party are not to be sneezed at. They pack a hell of a punch among the Black South Africans.

This is most bizarre… and well worth watching. Jan]

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele and some members of his cabinet were escorted out of a KwaMashu stadium after Youth Day celebrations turned ugly yesterday when angry pro-Jacob Zuma members of the crowd pelted the speakers with stones and other objects.

Ndebele”s bodyguards shielded the premier by holding a table over his head. They escorted him through the players” tunnel at the Princess Magogo Stadium to a waiting Nyala armoured vehicle.

Ndebele and his entourage, who later spoke to The Mercury, were calm and nobody was injured.

The table was hoisted over Ndebele”s head to cover him from flying objects which rained down. Police shields were used to cover the heads of some members of the cabinet.

At one stage, the VIPs” vehicles were stuck inside the ground as angry youths blocked the stadium exit.

Police tried to remove the youths. ANC MP Meshack Radebe, who tried to calm the youths, urged the police to retreat as the youths grew angrier.

Later, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and his SACP counterpart, Blade Nzimande, were hailed by the crowd as they left the stadium.

Feelings ran high as a result of the firing of Zuma by President Thabo Mbeki this week. KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League Chairman Nhlakanipho Ntombela tried in vain to calm the crowd long before Ndebele arrived at the venue as the event degenerated into a pro-Zuma rally.

Youths, chanting “Msholozi” (Zuma”s praise name), toyi-toyed throughout the event, while the packed pavilion chanted and sang pro-Zuma songs.

Cries of “Zuma! Zuma!” reverberated through the stadium, drowning Ndebele”s address.

Ndebele told the crowd Zuma was in Mpumalanga.

“People in Mpumalanga are listening to him and not doing what you are doing here. Zuma will not allow ill-discipline. We are from him and we support him,” he said, adding that Zuma would be afforded an opportunity to show the world that he was clean.

“There are processes to work towards this. This is the demand we are making because out there in the world his name is seen as soiled,” he said.

Source: The Mercury
URL: http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectio…br>