Alliance political council wants a more unified economic strategy for SA

A holistic approach to the economy as well as strengthening the alliance movement and its student formations – these are the outcomes of a two-day political alliance council meeting between the ANC and its allies.

The governing party, SACP, trade union federation Cosatu and civic organisation Sanco met on Sunday to discuss South Africa’s ailing economy and the state of the reconfiguration of the alliance.

In a statement released on Monday by the alliance secretariat, it said the unemployment rate, which stands at 29%, was of great concern to them and it necessitated an urgent holistic approach that involved stakeholders to unify most South Africans in tackling the economic crisis.

The summit asked its economic working group to finalise a unifying economic strategy.

“The interventions required include a high-impact comprehensive and coherent industrial strategy underpinned by a macro-economic policy framework that supports our national development imperatives and contributes toward higher inclusive economic and employment growth,” said the council in the statement.

This on the back of the alliance partners becoming upset after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni made public an economic paper with proposed interventions calling for public participation before having discussed it internally within them.

Mboweni has since apologised, with Cosatu saying it was happy with some aspects of the paper.

The meeting to address the old issue of alliance reconfiguration – which the trade union federation, communist party and civic organisation had been calling for – endorsed a common framework for reconfiguration and a model for optimal performance.

“This is anchored in the shared belief that the alliance must move with the times and thus take into account the continuously changing strategic challenges facing our democratic transition,” read the statement.

Sanco, the South African Students Congress (Cosas) and Congress of South African Students (Sasco) were all identified as areas the movement needed to focus on in its bid to rebuild and renew the organisation, saying these could play a significant role in uniting the country and mobilising it behind one vision.

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