Jay Naidoo to President Cyril Ramaphosa: Lead the country or step down

This photograph from the early 1990s captures one moment in our struggle journey. You had become the newly elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress after its unbanning. Chris Hani had returned from exile to lead the South African Communist Party. I remained General Secretary of COSATU and Cde John Gomomo our COSATU President. We represented different organisations, but we shared one purpose. From left: John Gomomo, Chris Hani, Jay Naidoo and Cyril Ramaphosa

DEAR Mr President,

I write to you not as a political opponent, but as someone who stood alongside you during the struggle for our freedom and who respects the office you occupy.

There was a time when you, as General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, and I, as General Secretary of COSATU, occupied two of the most significant leadership positions in South Africa’s mass democratic movement.

We organised workers, communities and students knowing that detention, torture or assassination were real possibilities. The difference between life and death was often measured in days.