Popcru praises ‘Oom Groene’ but slams GNU

While deafening chants of “Oom Groene” echoed – lauding Correctional Services Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald for implementing pro-worker policies in government – ironically, speakers at the five-day Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) central executive committee (CEC) meeting on Tuesday reserved strong criticism for ANC and DA leaders.

The CEC, which concludes commission discussions on Wednesday before reporting back to plenary, has been marked with keynote speakers Popcru president Thulani Ngwenya and SA Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila lambasting the government of national unity (GNU), saying it rendered the ANC into a state of political impotence.

Commission topics have included the political, international, organisational, social transformation and socio-economic reports.

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Groenewald praised

In an unprecedented development, Ngwenya – whose union subscribes to leftwing politics – heaped praise at the conservative Groenewald, he said implemented a sustainability plan at the Department of Correctional Services, “putting workers’ rights and interests first”.

This, against what Ngwenya and Mapaila said were ANC leaders in Cabinet whose intentions were to “erode hard-fought rights of workers”.

“The new minister in the Department of Correctional Services, Oom Groene, is implementing resolutions we took in 2015 – self sustainability of the department.

“Now that he is in the executive, we must listen to him. Oom Grone has taken up the cause of workers in the department he leads.

“They can call us sellouts, but if Oom Groene is going to give us the shift system, promotion policy and self-sustainability in Correctional Services, we will support him,” said Ngwenya.

“Viva Oom Groene, Viva!” Ngwenya chanted, with a crowd of delegates echoing him.

“He has given workers what they want – not a political decision, but what material conditions dictate a change in conditions, which are in the interests of the working-class,” he added.

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GNU parties ‘too different to cooperate’

Turning to the GNU, he said: “The GNU is in turmoil and the key parties are too different to cooperate, with another sleeping on the right and another on the left of the marriage.

“When President Cyril Ramaphosa declared being a friend of Russia and South Africa a member of Brics, (DA leader) John Steenhuisen said: ‘your friend, not mine’.”

Conceding that the advent of the GNU has weakened the Tripartite Alliance, Mapaila said his stance was roundly opposed by ANC leaders.

“Five ANC officials attacked me when I expressed opposition to the GNU – the president, deputy, chairperson, secretary-general and his deputy.”

He said the GNU has provided a cover for ANC leaders not to consult Alliance partners on key decisions taken by government.

“The DA represents the colonial and counter-revolutionary agenda.

“We lost the majority in the 2024 elections but a major blow [was] the decision by the ANC to form a coalition with the right-wing DA – a reactionary force.

“Calling it a GNU is to legitimise and provide a cover for the ANC-DA coalition, an entity set up without Alliance partners having been engaged,” argued Mapaila.

He called for a “hands off Panyaza Lesufi campaign” – maintaining that the Gauteng premier was “persecuted for keeping the DA out of the provincial government”.

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Responding to an ANC decline

A Popcru political report circulated for discussion at the meeting, said: “Evidently, the ANC is experiencing the downward electoral decline.

“The pertinent question that needs to be posed and responded to by the MDM (mass democratic movement) is, what are the causal factors to this persistent decline?

“In grappling with the question, it must be borne in mind that, constantly increasing [the] number of electorates, in successive election cycles, is not turning [into votes].

“In this recently passed elections, more than 10 million eligible voters did not turn out to vote.

“There is a plethora of causal factors, which would among others include poor performance, unabated corruption in government and ANC-led municipalities.

“Poor or lack of service delivery by government to our communities, has proven to be a deterrent to members of the public to participate in the elections.”

“It is argued that incompetent cadres are deployed to key strategic positions in these institutions, which subsequently cause these institutions to perform poorly.”