Zuma's unity proposal taken with 'pinch of salt'

A political analyst has questioned the intentions of former president Jacob Zuma's proposal to unite all progressive parties.

- Itumeleng Mafisa

Zuma has called on all "black" members of left-leaning parties to come together and form a united front against parties such as the DA and the current leadership of the ANC.

However, Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast from Nelson Mandela University said Zuma's stance is confusing. When elected ANC president in 2007, Zuma originally endorsed neoliberal policies.

"When Zuma was elected as the president of the ANC in Polokwane, he first said that the neo-liberal government policies will not change."

"What took him so long to talk about the unification or the fragmentation of the left?" he said.

Breakfast also said he had doubts that all the progressive parties could unite.

"I take the notion of the unification of the progressive left with a pinch of salt," he said.

Breakfast said it is clear that the EFF and the MK parties were at loggerheads which will make working together hard.