Cosatu wants SA Communist Party to now run SA, with ANC to take back seat

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has joined forces with its alliance partners the SA Communist Party (SACP) and SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) – in pushing for the reconfiguration of the ANC-SACP-Cosatu-Sanco Alliance, which will see Communists emerging as national leaders.

Speaking on the sidelines of the of the SACP’s fourth special national congress in Ekurhuleni on Thursday, Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali expressed concern that the ruling ANC merely used its political partners to assist the party in garnering votes during elections and was not following up on agreed programmes and policies.

“The current debate at the SACP fourth special national congress on the reconfiguration of the alliance is nothing new,” he said.

“For the past few years, we have been raising concerns about the manner in which the ANC treats its partners. The key issue is about how we manage decision-making and the powers of the political council established to coordinate and offer leadership in the alliance on policy and programmes.

“But in the past years, nothing has emerged,” said Ntshalintshali in the wake of a discussion document on the reconfiguration of the alliance.

He added: “The SACP has been dissatisfied about the manner the alliance is working. It has always been about mobilising for ANC votes, with the ruling party not following through on agreed resolutions and decisions.

“All alliance partners are happy with the document as we want to see a clear programme on policy matters, which should come from the alliance before government makes key decisions.”

The discussion document, said Ntshalintshali, had also been shared with the ANC for debate and implementation.

“The ANC NEC (national executive committee) is discussing the document and we want to see it implemented. We want to see discussions on the document cascaded down to alliance regional structures to avoid a top-down approach.

“Unlike the ANC, the SACP is looking beyond the national democratic revolution – towards socialism. Hence, we firmly believe that it must be the SACP – the vanguard of the working class – that leads the alliance and not the ANC,” said Ntshalintshali.

Ntshalintshali said Cosatu wanted the interests of the working class put on top of the alliance agenda.

Said Ntshalintshali: “In the South African system, we have a mixed economy, but seemingly a strong capitalist domination. If business is not watched properly, it will mess up government by putting money to control how interests of the workers are responded to.

“We have a strong role to play to deal with matters like poverty, executive pay, gender balance, land, the labour market and taxation.

“We believe that the future lies in socialism and not capitalism.”

– brians@citizen.co.za

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