COSATU statement on the ANC NEC January 08 message
COSATU congratulates the ANC, the oldest liberation movement in Africa for reaching the 105th anniversary milestone this year. The federation welcomes and supports the January 08 ANC NEC message that was delivered by President, Jacob Zuma at Orlando stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg today.
We agree that the Alliance must be more united today than it has been at any other time in the history of our struggle. We are faced and surrounded by many enemies that want to remove the ANC government from power. The current political challenges in our movement can only be confronted through conscious and decisive action against our real and common enemy; monopoly capital.
COSATU agrees that the Alliance needs to regain its political coherence in order to robustly pursue and ultimately fulfil the goals and aspirations of our people. We need to defend and consolidate the convergence that has existed within the ANC-led Alliance around the need for fundamental and more radical phase of our democratic transition.
The Alliance has previously agreed that our primary focus must be to move the national democratic revolution onto a second radical phase and more concrete programmes to address poverty, create jobs and grow an inclusive, productive economy.
This is an ideal and opportune time for the Alliance to come out with practical proposals on how to make this plan a reality. We have to start by implementing the Alliance decisions like the review of the economic and labour chapters of the National Development Plan.
We also support the NEC’s statement that the movement should unite and work hard to regain control in all areas, where we lost elections. We want a united ANC that willreassert its hegemony in all centers of power including providing a clear and decisive leadership to its government. We all need to work hard to regain the trust of the people of Western Cape, Nelson Mandela metro, Tshwane, and Johannesburg Metro.
The ANC needs to exorcise itself of the culture of accumulation that has allowed capital to influence the content and direction of our revolution. It should remain a disciplined force of the left that is biased towards the working class.
COSATU wants the ANC and its government to provide bold and decisive leadership to ensure that the wealth of this country is shared amongst all of its people. We cannot continue to allow white monopoly capital to continue to preserve and exclusively enjoy their ill begotten, gains, benefits and privileges.
While we appreciate the ANC government’s efforts to engage ratings agencies, we caution against any attempt to elevate them above the needs of South Africans. While it’s imperative for our government to prove its ability and willingness to meet its financial obligations in full and on time; it is also important for it to prove the same commitment and ability to meet its service delivery obligations to the citizens.
We must take forward the Mangaung commitments that the state should increase its own capacity to deliver on its core obligations, including the provision of social infrastructure, where appropriate.
We are happy that the movement has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the landless have access to land. We need to see the finalisation of the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill in 2017. We need to ensure that farm workers are protected from illegal evictions. It’s not acceptable that many evicted farm workers’ dependents and relatives are stilldenied access to their family grave sites and also that farmers destroy their homes.
We need the ANC government to provide debt relief to our most indebted and impoverished workers and consumers
The ANC and its government should ensure that we have a state pharmaceutical company and a state mining company as soon as possible. We want to see some deliberate action on the side of government to nationalise Sasol and Arcellor Mittal and the conversion of Post Bank into a state bank.
The federation agrees with the ANC NEC that state-owned commercial entities should operate as powerful instruments of economic transformation. We have repeatedly and firmly called for SOE’s to remain firmly within the control of the state, in order to increase their capacity to respond effectively and efficiently to its developmental agenda.
As a country, we need a strong developmental state committed and ready to address unemployment, inequalities, and that is prepared to transform the State Owned Entities in line with the developmental agenda of the ANC government.
We remain adamant in our position that the task of fundamental transformation of our economy, the creation of decent work and the provision of basic services to the majority of our people cannot be left to the market forces. We are contented that the ANC NEC seems to appreciate the fact that government cannot afford to outsource its developmental role to the private sector.
COSATU agrees with the movement that, we need to fight the scourge of racism and the demons of tribalism and sexism in our movement and also in our society. Going forward the ANC’s immediate priority should be to ensure that it has an activist government that will deliver on the promise of making sure that every cent spent by government creates jobs.
The ANC and its government should regain their lost fortitude by scrapping labour brokers , doing away with the e-toll system , introduce the National Minimum wage, the Comprehensive Social Security System , free education , and the National Health Insurance.
Long Live the ANC !Long Live!
Long Live the Alliance! Long Live!
Statement issued by COSATU, 8 January 2017
