COSATU and SACP 'lose patience with ANC'
19 September 2017
Johannesburg - COSATU and the SACP have threatened to convene the tripartite alliance without the ANC.
The two met on Monday, as relations within the historic alliance, that has jointly campaigned in elections have deteriorated.
"The SACP and COSATU will be making every attempt to sensitise the urgent, inescapable necessity for the alliance to function optimally. The absence of democratic, consensus-seeking consultation on the direction of our shared national democratic revolution has created a gulf of leadership affecting both the alliance and society as a whole," they said in a combined statement.
Meetings between the tripartite alliance members collapsed after President Jacob Zuma’s midnight cabinet reshuffle earlier this year which he did without consulting the alliance partners.
Tensions further heightened after COSATU and the SACP banned Zuma from their events and called for him to step down.
Another bilateral meeting between the SACP and the ANC was cancelled on the day it was supposed to be held last month.
"This has plunged the revolution into uncharted waters - an unacceptable situation of uncertainty.”
COSATU and the SACP said it will consult with the smaller alliance member Sanco (the South African National Civic Organisation) before deciding on holding a meeting “with or without the ANC”.
They also slammed ongoing disciplinary processes against members as "arbitrary". Some in the ANC want to discipline members who voted with the opposition in the August motion of no confidence against Zuma in Parliament.
The labour union federation and the Communist party have also blamed “ANC leadership failures” for the legal warfare currently underway within the party, threatening to derail the December elective conference.
“People are increasingly turning to the courts, the mechanism of last resort, as an alternative for relief in the midst of glaring leadership failures,” the statement said.
At least three provinces are facing court battles. KwaZulu-Natal’s 2015 elective conference was nullified by the Pietermaritzburg High Court last week while disgruntled members in Eastern Cape and North West are also challenging the party in court.
“Killings in our movement have increased and continued unabated. Provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal have become the glaring example of this painful experience reminiscent of apartheid- sponsored killings.”
COSATU and the SACP have warned ANC leaders to “protect the credibility of its December elective conference and to ensure that it is not derailed”.
The ANC is holding a special National Executive Committee meeting next Monday to decide the fate of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive committee following the court judgement.
“The recent court decision which has implications on the ANC KZN leadership will require sober and sensible leadership that places principled organisational unity of common purpose above everything else. In the same vein, similar cases which may emerge in future should be handled with care,” the statement reads.
SACP has backed COSATU’s planned September 27 national strike over state capture and unemployment.
