The Congress of South African Trade Unions notes with regret the announcement by Terror Lekota and others of their intention to leave the ANC. We call on them to reconsider their disastrous stance.

It appears to us however that they have taken a decision, and nothing the ANC does to point out to them that what they say is not correct, will help. The ultimatum served on the ANC, or what Terror Lekota calls serving the divorce papers, is not genuine, nor is it designed to solicit any response so that there could be a more genuine engagement. This is a publicity stunt whose intention is to drum up support for the party to be announced.

We are nevertheless not surprised by this announcement, as it is a fulfilment of a decision that appears to have been taken a long time ago. To us their reason for leaving has nothing to do with any so-called commitment to the Freedom Charter but the following:

• Refusal to embrace internal democracy, in that the group is constituted mostly of people who lost the vote, in a fair, transparent and democratic process in full of view of the public. Jacob Zuma won the elections together with the current NEC in a fair, transparent, and democratic fashion. They must learn to accept democratic outcomes even if these are not in their favour.
• It is an expression of blind loyalty to Thabo Mbeki
• Ill discipline, in that space is there in the ANC for any of its members to raise whatever concerns they may have within the structures of the organisation. They have taken a decision; now they want public sympathy and to clear their conscious. 

It is not true that the ANC has veered away from the principles of the Freedom Charter after Polokwane. In fact the ANC has moved closer to all demands of the Freedom Charter.

Indeed all shall be equal before the eyes of the law. The ANC has never asked for a political solution but has correctly called for a solution to be found to the matter involving what it correctly calls the persecution of its President.

It is COSATU that has called for a political situation to be found. We were correct to do so and we were vindicated by Judge Nicholson, in that he agreed with the ANC President that he has been a victim of political machinations.

Overall this is a class act by people not happy about the general direction of the ANC. The ANC through Polokwane has remained a liberation movement of all freedom-loving South Africans but a liberation movement that has a bias towards the workers and the poor. Lekota and the others have spent the last few years trying to change the ANC from within itself, to move it away from being a home for all, in particular workers and the poor, into a party for the black elite.

We call on all our members, and all our people, not to be misled by misinformation and lies that people were being purged, and even about the sacred document of the people the Freedom Charter. Instead more than ever before COSATU members should swell the ranks of the ANC to ensure that all the clauses of the Freedom Charter are implemented to the fullest.

Statement issued by COSATU national spokesperson, Patrick Craven, October 8 2008