COSATU CEC, 22-24 August 2011, media statement
The Congress of South African Trade Unions held a scheduled meeting of its Central Executive Committee from 22-24 August 2011, attended by the national office bearers, and representatives of the 20 affiliated unions and nine provincial structures. Among the items discussed were the following:
Strikes
The CEC congratulated the unions, including NUM, NUMSA, CEPPWAWU, FAWU, SATAWU, and the public-sector unions, who have been implementing the Living Wage Campaign, and winning some important victories.
All unions must assist SAMWU to win its legitimate demands. We call on SALGA to move with speed to find a solution to their dispute with SAMWU. We condemn trashing and violence, which makes it harder to win public support. We also support the ongoing strike by contract cleaning workers in SATAWU and other unions
Allegations of divisions within COSATU
The CEC dismissed reports in the media - based on anonymous sources - of cracks within the federation, and a succession race for the General Secretary's position. The meeting reaffirmed that there is no succession race taking place and that the national office bearers and all the affiliates are united in leading the working class and the widest range of social strata in a common struggle for the realisation of the national democratic revolution.
The CEC condemned the ill-disciplined elements who are spreading these rumours, and who are trying to stop COSATU from carrying out its historic role of defending workers and fighting against unemployment, poverty and inequality.
It is not true that COSATU is divided on ideological and political lines. It is natural that there will always be debates between COSATU affiliates and individuals - this is not only healthy but perfectly natural.
There were these robust debates, even in the CEC, but these are never allowed to create divisions but differences of opinion on a specific tactical or strategic matters. The culture of the federation is to allow unions, leadership and membership, to robustly debate these matters so that they are resolved internally within the structures of the organisation.
Campaigns
The CEC took forward the Central Committee decision to wage eleven core campaigns, and added a 12th Campaign - on the ANC Centenary Celebrations.
All of these campaigns are integrated into a single mobilisation programme but will be staggered in their roll-out, in some cases related to ongoing Section 77 processes in Nedlac. For this purpose two campaign clusters have been identified.
Cluster One
1. Living wage, including support for unions fighting for improved wages and better conditions, a legislated minimum wage, raising the ‘social wage' (i.e. access to housing, land, education and healthcare), condemning exorbitant pay for executives, and opposing any relaxation of labour laws (See statement - Appendix 1).
2. Banning labour brokers, which is currently under discussion at Nedlac. National mass strike is planned for 5 October 2011, following Provincial Shop Stewards Council meetings to mobilise support; that is if we cannot reach an agreement at Nedlac.
3. Walmart takeover of Massmart and the threat of job losses in other retailers and manufacturers. (See Item below on Pick n Pay).
4. Public transport, including opposition to electronic tolling.
5. COP17 and Climate Change (see report below)
6. Water crisis, the long-term sustainability of water supply and the urgent crisis of acid mine water pollution.
7. Anti-corruption campaign, which is being kicked off in Polokwane with a march on Friday 26 August, assembling at 09h30 at the SABC Park and marching to the offices of the Premier, SAPS, SARS and SALGA.
8. ANC Centenary celebrations (see report below)
Cluster Two
9. New Growth Path
10. Anti-privatisation
11. Electricity
12. Public Service Ethos
The first campaigns, mainly those in Cluster One, will run from September 2011 to December 2011. During this period the Cluster Two campaigns will consist mainly of propaganda.
To co-ordinate theses campaigns, the CEC resolved to establish:
- A Campaigns Operations Command Centre and a Living Wage Campaign Commission.
- A COSATU-led Campaigns Coalition, to build support for our campaigns and to coordinate our engagement with our Alliance partners, progressive civil society organisations and labour support organisations.
Central Committee resolutions
Central Committee resolutions on the National Democratic Revolution and Socio-economic policy were discussed, with the participation of leaders from our Alliance partners - the ANC, SACP and SANCO.
The resolutions were unanimously adopted and are attached below (as Appendices 2 and 3). This discussion demonstrated once again the health and vitality of the Alliance.
Alliance Programme of Action
The Alliance Secretariat has reworked the Alliance Programme of Action which was adopted at the Alliance Summit on 24 February 2011, based on the resolutions of the ANC 2007 Polokwane Conference, with special focus on the problems of non-performing schools and corruption.
COSATU/SACP Bilateral meeting
There was a bilateral meeting with the SACP on 23 June 2011. The joint statement noted that the SACP/COSATU axis had been absolutely critical over the past two decades in consolidating our new democracy, in defeating attempts at wholesale privatisation of public property, in running mass campaigns against corruption, and in spearheading the call for placing our economy onto a new, more egalitarian growth path in which jobs and the transformation of the productive sector were at the centre.
The meeting agreed that our country continued to be characterised by three major structural crises: unemployment, poverty and inequality, which are strongly imbued with racial, youth and gendered features. The deepening capitalist crisis presented both possibilities for and the necessity of left unity and active popular struggles.
Periods of capitalist crisis are also typically characterised by various forms of right-wing demagogic populist mobilisation acting on behalf of various capitalist strata in crisis, but often masked behind a pseudo-left rhetoric. The same phenomenon is apparent in SA, finding a potential mass base amongst tens of thousands of unemployed and alienated youth in particular. Behind this populism are often well-resourced business-people and politicians seeking to plunder public resources.
We resolved to close ranks and to expose the true agenda of these tendencies and their connections to corruption and predatory behaviour in the state, while at the same time addressing the socio-economic structural realities that give rise to this phenomenon.
The bilateral discussed frankly and in a comradely spirit a number of areas that had provoked some public debate including the deployment of senior SACP members into government the two formations agreed to continue to assess how best to achieve an effective balance between the SACP's mass mobilisation and state-related responsibilities.
The two formations reaffirmed their conviction that the unity in action of the SACP and COSATU constituted the bed-rock for advancing, consolidating and defending the national democratic revolution, the most direct path to a socialist SA based on meeting social needs and not private profits.
Climate Change
The CEC was addressed by Comrade Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, on the issues on the agenda of the COP17 Conference taking place in Durban in December.
Climate change, she said, is one of the greatest threats to sustainable development and South Africa is therefore seizing the opportunity to map a socio-economic transition to a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy while at the same time building a new economic infrastructure, international competitiveness, prosperity and jobs.
The government policy not only seeks to achieve the country's national development interests but to make a fair and meaningful contribution to the global efforts, and demonstrate leadership in the multilateral system.
The CEC then debated the issue and adopted a Policy Framework on Climate Change, which, among others, said:
Climate change is part of a larger economic and ecological crisis which represents a serious challenge for the working class in general and the trade union movement in particular. More and more greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, are thrown up into the earth's atmosphere, so a blanket of these gases is being formed around the earth, which in turn is heating up the temperature immediately above its surface.
Global warming is causing droughts, floods, tornados, and snow storms and the rapid melting of ice at the poles, causing sea levels to rise. Climate patterns are changing and becoming unpredictable, with shifts in rainfall and other seasonal patterns.
Climate change is having devastating impacts on the poor and the powerless throughout the world. Already there are over 150 million ‘climate refugees' in the world who have been displaced through drought, failed crops, floods and rising sea levels. 262 million people are being affected a year by climate related disasters, with the poor worst affected.
The policy framework is based on the following principles:
1. Capitalist accumulation has been the underlying cause of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore global warming and climate change.
2. A new low carbon development path is needed which addresses the need for decent jobs and the elimination of unemployment
3. Food insecurity must be urgently addressed
4. All South Africans have the right to clean, safe and affordable energy
5. All South Africans have the right to clean water
6. We need a massive ramping up of public transport in South Africa
7. The impacts of climate change on health must be understood and dealt with in the context of the demand for universal access to health
8. A just transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy is required
9. We need a carbon budget for South Africa
10. African solidarity is imperative
11. An ambitious legally binding international agreement designed to limit temperature increases to a maximum of 1.5 degrees is essential
12. We reject market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions
13. Developed countries must pay for their climate debt and the Green Climate Fund must be accountable
14. We need investment in technology, and technology transfers to developing countries must not be fettered by intellectual property rights
15. The South African government's position in the UNFCCC processes must properly represent the interests of the people
The Policy Framework supports a ‘just transition' to a low carbon economy, which means changes that do not disadvantage the working class worldwide, nor developing countries, and where the industrialised countries pay for the damage their development has done to the earth's atmosphere.
A just transition provides the opportunity for deeper transformation that includes the redistribution of power and resources towards a more just and equitable social order. The CEC emphasised the importance of creating new ‘green jobs' before we can accept cuts in existing jobs.
It was agreed that policies of developing countries must not be dictated by the rich countries, and that any policies must prioritise the creating of employment and reduction of poverty and inequality.
Pick n Pay retrenchments
SACCAWU reported on a looming battle with Pick n Pay over their plan to retrench 3137 workers, a move which is clearly an attempt to anticipate the arrival of Walmart in South Africa. Pick n Pay's problems have been compounded by the exorbitant R110 million rebranding exercise, yet they blame their increased costs on the high number of workers.
SACCAWU confirmed that the company has been talking to Tesco, a UK retail giant, about the ‘efficiencies' they would expect from Pick n Pay.
The CEC agreed to back SACCAWU members, and call for a national boycott of Pick n Pay and a march to the house of Raymond Ackerman in defence of jobs.
ANC Centenary Celebration
In January 2012, the African National congress will reach 100 years of existence. The ANC National Chairperson, Comrade Baleka Mbete, introduced the ANC's concept document for its celebrations, under the theme Unity in Diversity. She called on COSATU to support all the events and proposed that it should focus especially on May Day and the month of May to highlight the role of the workers in the struggle.
The CEC agreed that COSATU will participate fully in the various events being planned. The goals and objectives of the project are to:
- Share COSATU's experience in the liberation struggle in partnership with its alliance partners and the mass democratic movement;
- Demonstrate our long-standing support for Africa's oldest liberation movement;
- Deepen workers' understanding of the ANC's history and political objectives;
- Use every celebration as an instrument to organise the unorganised into COSATU-affiliated trade unions.
The meeting resolved to:
- Generate ideas on how best to effectively participate in the planned activities and develop programmes. Suggestions included production of T-shirts, publication of a pamphlet and using slots on radio and TV;
- Encourage the use of members of the Creative Workers Union in various forms of entertainment, history-capturing and communicating that history to the audiences.
SASFU
The meeting received a report from the South African Security Forces Union that they had been forced to disaffiliate from COSATU under a regulation adopted by the Minister of Defence that "a military trade union shall not affiliate or associate with (a) and labour organisation, labour association, trade union or labour federation that is not recognised [by the SADDF] and registered; and (b) any political party or organisation."
The meeting resolved not to throw in the towel on this attack on trade union rights and to engage with the ANC leadership. Meanwhile COSATU would maintain its close relationship with SASFU.
Anti-corruption campaign
The CEC accepted a report on progress in establishing an independent, civil-society-backed initiative to combat the growing scourge of corruption. Its principal function will be to provide a platform for ordinary South African citizens to actively engage in the fight against corruption, and provide a safe haven for whistle blowers.
The initiative - to be called Corruption Watch - will be launched on International Anti-corruption Day, 9 December 2011. The planning task team, co-ordinated by David Lewis:
- Has determined that the project will be housed in a non-profit company to be called Corruption Watch
- Has approached 9 people to serve on the board of directors
- Has commenced the process of registering it
- Has prepared a business plan and planning, establishment and operational budgets
- Has raised, in cash and kind, approximately, R6 million which covers the planning and establishment budget
- Has commenced building the interactive web-based platform that will serve as one of the key mobilisation tools of Corruption Watch
We have requested affiliates' investment companies to consider making an immediate grant of R1 million each to enable Corruption Watch to commence its work, which will include a 3 year funding drive that is on-going and which will be accelerated at the beginning of 2012.
Humanitarian crisis in Somalia
The CEC received a report on the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. This year saw two consecutive rainy seasons missed, precipitating the worst drought the region has seen in about 60 years. Factors such as belated and sub-average harvests, high food, water and fuel prices, and depleted grazing and farm lands caused by an estimated 25% drop in rainfall led to a large movement of peoples from the conflict-ridden parts of southern Somalia to relief centres in neighbouring countries.
The UN declared a famine officially on July 20 2011 in two regions of southern Somalia, warning that the food crisis could spread to the rest of southern Somalia within two months if humanitarian aid remains insufficient. This was further compounded by the ban on relief supplies by Islamic militants. It is projected that full recovery can only be expected, at the earliest by 2012 depending on a clear and comprehensive long-term strategy.
The Fund for Peace has rated Somalia as ‘the most failed state' for 3 consecutive years. Further, in 2009, Transparency International ranked the nation in last place on its Annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), that purports to show the prevalence of corruption in a country's public sector.
The meeting agreed that every affiliate should follow the example of the NUM, who have already donated R10 000, and SATAWU, to the famine relief appeal and we would urge our Alliance partners to make donations.
Other international issues
Concern was expressed about the growing economic crisis facing workers in Lesotho, and it was agreed that the COSATU Free State province should continue with its solidarity campaign, just as the Mpumalanga Province has consistently mobilised support for the workers of Swaziland.
Affiliates were urged to send representatives to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine sitting in the District Six Museum in Cape Town on 5-6 November 2011, to consider whether Israel's treatment of the people of Palestine fits the international definitions of the crime of apartheid.
The CEC agreed that the COSATU leadership should refuse to attend an event - Jewish Struggle Heroes Remembered: a Conversation with Paul and Amos Goldreich - organised by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) on Friday 26 August 2011 at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia.
The attitude of the SA Jewish establishment, headed by the SAJBD, has consistently backed the Israeli government's oppression of Palestinians.
Libya
COSATU fully endorses the South African government statement opposing regime change in Libya, and demanding that the Libyan people must determine their own future through an inclusive process that will ensure a full democratisation of all political institutions and that no illegal removal of a government can be justified, not least through violent means.
Knysna bus tragedy
COSATU sends its condolences to the families of the 14 children and the driver who lost their lives in yesterday's tragic bus accident near Knysna, and demands a full investigation into the cause of the accident and urgent action to improve the safety of this stretch of the road.
Rugby World Cup
COSATU send its best wishes to the South African Rugby World Cup squad, as they prepare to leave for New Zealand. Go Bokke, go!
Women's Month
The CEC paid tribute to all its women members in this Women's Month.
Appendix 1
COSATU will fight right-wing attempts to weaken labour laws
The Congress of South African Trade Unions warmly welcomes today's cabinet statement which confounds speculation that South Africa's labour legislation might be relaxed.
Spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said government wants to place on record that the Labour Department was the lead department on all labour matters and that the only labour law amendments being considered at the moment were those being processed by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant through the National Economic Development and Labour Council processes.
"Cabinet," he said, "reiterates that South Africa's labour laws are in compliance with the International Labour Organisation".
This follows a statement on August 15, in which Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan suggested South Africa might have to relax its labour laws in certain cases to ensure employment of young workers. "Laws might also have to be relaxed," he says, "to allow young people to enter the workplace and gain skills and experience at lower wages, but not at the expense of people who already had jobs... Unless such changes were made, we will not be able to make the breakthrough we need to create jobs in South Africa".
These comments came amidst a concerted right-wing campaign to blame ‘inflexible' labour laws for the high levels of unemployment and to try to use this to justify rolling back gains workers have achieved since the dawn of democracy.
"Job creation," wrote Jonathan Yudelowitz, joint managing director of consulting firm YSA, on 2nd August 2011, "is stymied by well-meant but inflexible labour laws, illustrated by the fact that despite growing, the economy continues to shed jobs, never mind create permanent work that fits Cosatu's definition of decency".
Then Pick n Pay Chairman Gareth Ackerman on 18th August 2011 said that the labour intensity of production for SA had fallen by 16% since 1994 and the solution to this decline was ‘labour flexibility'. It is this, perhaps more than anything, which will create sustainable and decent jobs".
These reactionary views, which have been widely published and repeated ad nauseam in the media, are based on statistics contained in the World Economic Forum's 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) which claimed that out of 139 countries, South Africa ranked:
- 97th in labour market efficiency;
- 135th for the country's inflexible hiring and firing practices;
- 131st for a lack of flexibility in wage determination by companies; and
- 132nd for poor labour-employer relations
Yet labour law expert, Professor Paul Benjamin, has cast serious doubt on this ‘evidence'.
"Each year," he says "its publication is used [to] either triumphantly hail the country's ranking as a competitive economy or mourn its decline. However, what is seldom if ever disclosed is that 70% of the questions on which the GCR is based are drawn from the WEF's Executive Opinion Survey. While GCR reflects what some business executive think about their country's economy, the WEF punts it as the definitive economic survey.
"Nor does the WEF highlight the small number of business executives who complete the survey. In 2009, the much publicised ranking of South Africa's economic competitiveness was based on the views of 39 private sector business executives...
"The WEF has been criticised for basing its studies on subjective data even where hard data exists, yet they have a massive impact on public perceptions. The WEF appears to have a deliberate policy of presenting executive opinion as if it were proven fact in order to influence debate and policy-making...
"Representatives of business who favour massive labour market de-regulation repeatedly claim that South Africa's labour laws are virtually the strictest in the world. Many journalists and editors uncritically reiterate this mantra.
"How does this compare with surveys that are based on empirical data rather than the views of some business executives? The most authoritative comparative assessment of labour laws is by the OECD. Its report on employment protection laws dealing with hiring of permanent and temporary employees and collective dismissals allows South Africa's labour laws to be compared with those of the OECD's 29 members, which include the world's most developed economies.
"Since 2008, the OECD has been analysing employment laws in South Africa as well as six other associate members: Brazil, China, Estonia, India, Indonesia and Russia. The OECD study concludes that South Africa's employment protection legislation is more significantly flexible than all of these countries."
But, concludes Paul Benjamin, "The repetition of the misleading ‘worst labour law in world' statistic leads to the perception that our labour laws are the major (even the only) cause of unemployment and that repealing labour laws will automatically lead to greater employment... Presenting opinion as fact does not promote that debate and repeating opinion does not turn it into fact."
So is there indeed a link between labour laws and high unemployment? The answer is yes, but in exactly the opposite way to that suggested by these advocates of weaker labour laws.
The increasing shift towards labour market flexibility in Europe during the mid 1990s and early 2000s meant a critical shift away from an active labour regulatory environment. While questionable short-term gains may have been achieved, the state of labour markets in many European countries suffered shocking setbacks as the impact of global financial and economic crisis took its toll.
A number of examples on the introduction of labour market flexibility reforms can be cited. Spain implemented a flexible labour market policy, together with financial liberalisation and tight fiscal policy during the early and mid 2000s[1].
In contrast Germany took a more cautious approach to labour regulation and employment[2].
These diverse approaches provide today, a very different economic and employment impact.
Statistics of comparative economic growth, using annualised GDP data for 2006 to 2010, indicate that Spain performed better than Germany. However there is a stark difference in unemployment during the pre-crisis and the crisis period. In 2006 Spain had an unemployment level of 8.5% compared to Germany's 10.8%. However in 2010 German's unemployment level peaked at 7.7% in contrast to Spain's 20.1%!
Spain has faced similar employment trends to South Africa, particularly during the financial and economic crisis. While SA growth tracked fairly close to the global growth, its unemployment levels during the economic crisis remained dismal.
Significant number of jobs disappeared in agriculture, trade, construction, services and some manufacturing sectors - largely considered as having poor employment security and high levels of labour flexibility (excluding manufacturing). These types of jobs reflect the deep structural problems of our economy that perpetuate inequitable growth and unsustainable employment.
This is exacerbated by an already high level of labour market flexibility characterised by growing employment insecurity, underemployment and declining wage income relative to aggregate income.[3]
Given that unemployment, underemployment and inequitable income remain a constraining factor for inclusive growth, a decent work programme is an important strategy for raising living standards, improving equity and strengthening social cohesion and must be at the centre of a long term growth path.
A short-sighted approach of introducing greater labour market flexibility to achieve short-run gains is likely to be more costly to the economy and poor households during cyclical dips, when increasing levels of protection and social security are required to mitigate recessionary impacts.
The only real way for the South African economy to create more decent jobs is to restructure the economy, which is still based on the fault lines inherited from colonialism. Instead of joining the right-wing chorus against labour laws, the government should put in place appropriate macroeconomic policies to ensure speedy transformation of the economy.
They must introduce redistributive tax measures and allocate more resources for public investment in infrastructure, including a safe, reliable, affordable and integrated public transport system and to support IPAP2.
These are some of the interventions we have been calling for, yet the minister calls for weakening labour laws and introducing a youth wage subsidy which will result in wage depression, worker displacement and increased exploitation of workers, contrary to the commitments and mandate of the ANC government.
In COSATU's view the biggest problem with our labour laws is that in reality millions of workers are not protected nearly enough. Their jobs have been casualised or outsourced to labour brokers and they suffer extreme exploitation, poverty pay, no benefits and no job security and the labour laws for them are irrelevant.
This is why no amount of blackmail, based on phoney ‘surveys' about ‘inflexible' labour laws causing unemployment, will deter workers from fighting to defend their right to be treated with respect and to be protected from unfair dismissal, poverty pay and super-exploitation.
That is why among many campaigns COSATU adopted at its Central Committee (CC) in June 2011, was the living wage campaign, a decision grounded in the real problems workers face, not the perceptions of a few international business executives.
While executives continue to laugh all the way to the bank, with massive remuneration packages, millions of workers continue to earn starvation wages, from which they are forced to support more family members due to high levels of unemployment, and have suffered massive casualisation, including through intensive usage of labour brokers as a clear strategy by companies to circumvent progressive labour laws.
We will never let them get away with making these laws even more ‘flexible' to allow even higher levels of exploitation.
Appendix 2
COSATU 5th Central Committee Socio-Economic Resolution On the Triple Crisis of Unemployment Poverty and Inequality
Noting that:
1. The triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality:
a) Is a manifestation of the underlying contradictions of race, class and gender that characterise colonialism of a special type
b) Has further deepened during the democratic dispensation and reflects the fact that in socioeconomic terms, democracy in South Africa has not significantly advanced the material conditions of the working class
c) Severely affects the most downtrodden, voiceless and marginalised people in the rural areas
d) Corrodes the social fibre, destroys community cohesion and leads to dysfunctional family units
e) Has so deepened and has become engrained in the fabric of the South African formation that it has taken an inter-generational character
f) Is reflected in the low level of human development, driven by deteriorating real wages of workers, high levels of food insecurity, poor housing among other problems
2. Continued use of the narrow unemployment figure is problematic and reflects the continued dominance of neoliberal ideology in our society and in the economic cluster of government in particular
3. Capital thrives on unemployment and pits the employed against the unemployed workers
4. There are unemployed skilled graduates, which debunks the theory that blames all of our crisis of unemployment on skills shortages and the state of our education system
5. The problem of regional development, decentralised development spatial dimensions
6. The response to the global crisis - "saving jobs and creating jobs" - shows weaknesses in implementation
7. Bargaining is too narrow an instrument to address inequalities in society
8. Concentration of wealth in the hands of the few
Believing that:
1. The triple crisis is a result of the continued concentration economic power in the hands of the few
2. The continuing and deepening crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality reflects the extent to which neoliberalism has completely undermined the objectives of the NDR
3. The triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality can only be resolved through mass struggle and should therefore be linked to the living wage campaign
4. Effective redistribution of income, resources and economic power can only be attained through decent work, a state-driven programme of social delivery and a radical change in patterns of ownership and control of the economy in favour of the working class
5. Income inequality in particular cannot be solved by the number of jobs created but needs a broader policy intervention such as a wage policy
6. The continuation of labour brokers and privatisation reverses our drive towards decent work and building an interventionist developmental state
7. The triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality cannot be resolved by the NGP of government. We believe that the NGP will not adequately address the triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality
8. Economic activity in working class communities is crucial for social-cohesion
Therefore resolves to:
1. Build the internal capacity of the federation, in particular at the leadership and technical level, to engage with this complex area of transformation.
2. Affirm the COSATU perspectives on economic transformation, especially its Growth Path Towards Full Employment and all its historic positions and demands. This perspective must reinforce our demands for a total emancipation of women.
3. Re-energise all components of the Alliance and the MDM to embark on a systematic struggle for the total emancipation of the working class and women so that we strengthen the implementation of the goals of the NDR. These struggles must be effectively coordinated.
4. Invest more energy into ensuring greater Alliance consensus on socioeconomic policies (in particular on macroeconomic policy) and the New Growth Path
5. Engage in a rigorous education programme on the ground for workers so that they can appreciate current economic challenges and their role
6. Ensure that COSATU implements its resolutions on the use of workers' retirement funds to strategically address deindustrialisation and unemployment, without placing such funds at unsecured risk
7. Support the Job Creation Fund and Umsobomvu Youth Fund and insist that this should be seen as just part of a broader interventions necessary but not as panacea to youth unemployment crisis
8. Campaign for more equitable distribution of resources and expose and oppose obscene bonuses for executives that helps not only to maintain income inequalities but that have widened the gap between the haves and have nots.
9. We reaffirm our historic demands for more effective land redistribution. In this regard we reaffirm that the constitution should be amended to allow for land redistribution. We note and will engage with the arguments that the Constitution already allows for land expropriation for developmental purpose and to redress the imbalances of the past. We insist that the land redistributed must be effectively utilised so that we can improve food security in our country whilst addressing poverty of our people in particular in the rural areas.
10. Support social entrepreneurship to produce goods and services in communities. We shall work with government and civil society to build cooperatives as part of our drive to socialise the means of production as an alternative to private accumulation path we have followed this far, but reject bogus co-operatives which are set up simply to bypass labour legislation provisions.
11. Call for a progressive wage policy as an element of redistribution, going beyond bargaining units. Such a wage policy must systematically eradicate the current unacceptably high levels of income inequalities.
12. Reject Treasury's approach to unemployment, especially its proposals on youth wage subsidy. The youth unemployment crisis is as a result of structural crisis we face in the economy. These structural fault lines of apartheid include a dysfunctional education system that leaks resulting in 400 000 students leaving matric without any qualifications to join the long queues of the unemployed.
13. Rejects pronouncements that our labour legislation is inflexible, and commit to fight attempts to change labour legislation to the detriment of workers under the false guise of improving competitiveness
On the NGP
Noting that:
1. There is intense contestation over economic policy in the state and in the movement
2. The National Growth Path is about what the liberation movement struggled for. In its current form, it:
a) Has been shaped by this contested environment and is a product of compromise
b) Lacks a strategy of redistribution of income, resources such as education, healthcare, etc. and economic ownership and control
c) Envisions the centrality and dominance of the private, capitalist sector in direct job creation
d) Is located within the macroeconomic policy framework of GEAR, the Employment Strategy Framework and ASGISA
e) Fails to integrate social and economic policy
f) Advances a narrow perspective on environmental sustainability based solely on green industries and lowering carbon emissions
g) Has been driven by a process outside of the Alliance and its weaknesses reflects that it is not the collective wisdom of the Alliance
h) Emphasises the lowering of the costs of doing business, which is not in line with RDP
Believing that:
1. The struggle for a new growth path in post-1994 South Africa is a struggle to change power relations within the economy and society and destroying Colonialism of a Special Type which continues to reproduce unemployment, mass poverty and extreme levels of inequality
2. The struggle for a new growth path should be seen as a protracted process that should be combine mass mobilization and propaganda
3. A new growth path must directly confront unemployment, poverty and inequality holistically, including poor access to resources by the majority and inequality in terms of economic power
4. We should build the economic power of the democratic developmental state by, among other interventions, re-nationalisation of strategic industries such as SASOL and Arcelor-Mittal, the mines and the broader monopoly industries in line with the Freedom Charter and our resolutions, as part of changing the class character of South Africa
5. In line with our assessment at the special CEC held on 10 January 2011, the NGP does not adequately take forward the ANC 52nd National Conference economic resolutions
6. The Alliance should be the strategic centre of power to drive social and economic policy formulation, including the NGP, IPAP, IRP and other policies
7. The developed country status is limiting our ability to drive a progressive socioeconomic transformation programme
8. The NGP is not a conventional growth strategy, but starts with a jobs target, which is its single most important contribution to decent work
Therefore resolves to:
1. Re-affirm the COSATU Special CEC position that whilst we welcome the tabling of the NGP, it falls far short of being a comprehensive and overarching development strategy capable of unleashing a plan that will fundamentally transform our economy
2. Call for the overhaul of the NGP document if it is to succeed in uniting the Alliance behind the type of programme envisaged by all Alliance formations
3. Re-affirm the COSATU growth path as a tool to engage in the NGP processes in areas where there is agreement to fast-track implementation
4. Call for the abandonment of the commitment by apartheid state to global community that we are a developed country and for an audit of the commitments of the minority regime to global community be undertaken this include the 1993 GATT agreement.
5. Macroeconomic policy must be shifted, otherwise the NGP will remain trapped in neoliberalism
6. COSATU must inject more urgency to engage the NGP process in all available platforms, but the Alliance process must be urgently initiated
7. Alliance secretariat must regularly meet to formulate socio-economic policy, monitor and evaluate progress
8. We demand a shift in macroeconomic policies so that the NGP and IPAP are free from the clutches of neoliberalism. We reiterate our demand that the Reserve Bank must be nationalised. We shall intensify our call for a financial transaction tax and the re-instatement of exchange controls to boost the savings rate and reduce reliance on foreign capital. We re-affirm our resolution that inflation targeting must be abandoned and employment, industrial transformation and redistribution must be targeted
9. Campaign for the implementation of our demand that at least 5% of investible funds to be reinvested in the productive economy. We must take control of retirement funds' investment decisions so that they promote local, decent employment and domestic industrialisation and oppose off-shore investment of workers' money, especially by the PIC.
On Building an Interventionist Developmental State
Noting that:
1. This is a bourgeois but also a democratic state
2. There is a lack of co-ordination in the way the state operates
3. Working class ideas are not hegemonic in the state, because of the mode of production
4. Democratic forces have not occupied all sites of state power, but has occupied political office without succeeding yet to effectively transform the state
5. Elements in Treasury have not taken Polokwane seriously and Treasury fails to allocate resources as required by IPAP and NGP
6. Some of the statements made by the National Planning Commission's (NPC) Diagnostic Report are bad for workers
7. Limited municipal financial capacity limits the filling of the continued existence of 100 000 vacant posts
Believing that:
1. Government must ensure that appropriate skills are matched to the appropriate positions so that no one is employed in a position h/she has no skills of
2. Vacant posts in all spheres of the state must be filled
3. A developmental state and the NDR must lay foundations towards socialism
4. Whilst noting that the bureaucrats in Treasury are largely conservative and have a sway and continue to dominate government's thinking on such issues macroeconomic policy, we must blame the collective (ANC NEC and Cabinet) for failure to align government economic policies to the objective of creating decent jobs and eradication of poverty.
Therefore resolves to demand:
1. A massive interventionist state programmes with the necessary urgency and speed to address the current triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequalities
2. Building a development and interventionist state starts by scrapping of all plans to outsource delivery of services that government should deliver. We are opposed to the use of tenders in the development of infrastructure and the provision of basic services
3. Concrete measures to build a dedicated and skilled public service and broaden the appointments of progressives in commissions, committees, etc.
4. That MECs and National Ministers must strengthen intergovernmental co-operation in order to streamline service delivery and destroy silo mentality
5. The Expanded Public Works Programme and Community Development Programmes must be driven internally by the state through local governments as a conscious anti poverty programme with the aim of moving the country to full employment in the medium to the long term. In this regard adequate resourcing of local governments has become urgent.
6. Government, including provincial government, must implement countless resolutions of successive jobs and economic development summits as well as manifesto commitments to fill all funded and unfunded vacant posts within the next 6 months
7. The CEC to draft a fighting programme to take forward all of these demands. Such a programme should seek to unite employed and unemployed workers and build a solid fighting alliance of civil society under the leadership of the Alliance.
On Ownership and Control of the Economy
Noting:
1. The slow pace of transformation of ownership and control of the South African economy
2. The South African economy and land are increasingly foreign-owned
3. The continued bias in career-pathing in favour of white men and white women and the limited career-pathing of ordinary workers in the economy
4. The investment of workers' retirement funds continues to be controlled by the capitalist class
5. South African workers do not control critical value-chains that produce essential goods for working class communities
6. BEE has failed and has been used for narrow accumulations and not development and is also happening at times at the expense of workers
7. The limited transfer of technical skills to black people in general, in the broader economy in agriculture
Believing that:
1. Changing patterns of ownership and control of the South African economy is the cornerstone of the economic transformation programme of the NDR
2. The working class should provide leadership in the debates on all aspects of social and economic transformation, including the programme to change patterns of ownership
3. Increasing foreign ownership of South Africa's strategic means of production is against the objectives of the national democratic revolution
4. The Reserve Bank Amendment Bill is very limited in the sense that it does not abolish private ownership of the Reserve Bank
5. We need a balance between social development and productive use of land
Therefore resolves to:
1. We reiterate our call that the Constitution be amended so that the property clause that has helped maintains the current status quo is addressed. We also recognise that the Constitution may allow expropriation for redress and developmental challenges.
2. Mobilise the country behind our demand and show the real dangers of maintaining the current status quo including on the critical question of land ownership. We believe the overwhelming majority of South Africans from all walks of life agree that the current patterns of land ownership spell a disaster for our country's political future. We shall buttress this national dialogue with a need to increase the ANC majority in parliament to necessary levels that will allow that a Constitution be amended.
3. We reiterate our historic call for effective land redistribution programme and for the state to regulate the balance of land use for social development and production purposes
4. Call for the state to limit foreign ownership of the economy
5. Leverage current state-ownership in companies such as SASOL in the immediate and to call for worker-control of existing State-Owned Enterprises
6. To re-affirm our historical positions on nationalization, based on the Freedom Charter and later elaborated in our 1992 Policy Conference, and that nationalization should be conducted on a sector-by-sector basis
7. To build programmatic engagements with components of the Alliance, the Leagues and the MDM, to deepen the drive for nationalization and to assert working class hegemony around it
8. To urgently set up research capacity within COSATU to inform our interventions and engagements on the technical details on how best to implement nationalization
9. To ensure that nationalization includes the extension of the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill to abolish private ownership of the Reserve Bank
10. To re-open closed companies and turn them into co-operatives so as to expand a revolutionary working class-led co-operative sector in the economy
11. Evaluate progress on the process of setting up a Workers' Bank
On Industrial and Trade Policy Developments
Noting that:
1. South Africa continues to experience de-industrialisation, which has been accelerated by the global economic crisis
2. South Africa's industrial structure is highly carbon-intensive, uses a lot of energy and does not contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change
3. Trade liberalisation has led to a flood of imports that destroy the capacity of downstream productive sectors of the economy
4. IPAP 2 is being frustrated as a result of inadequate funding from the National Treasury
5. Government has released a local procurement framework to guide procurement in all spheres of government and SOEs
6. The mandate of the IDC and other development finance institutions is being reviewed to support industrialisation
7. ITUC unions tend to side with their states in the West, to the detriment of developing countries
Believing that:
1. Broad-based industrialisation should be at the centre of the new growth path
2. The transformation of the industrial structure must take into account the need to move towards a low-carbon path that should not lead to job losses
3. Effective industrial transformation is impossible within existing dictates of the WTO and the trade liberalisation legacy of GEAR
4. Local procurement and industrial financing are critical instruments to support our industrialisation drive
5. Industrialisation is part of the struggle of economies of the South to assert their autonomy and chart their own path of development
Therefore resolves to call for:
1. More focused and co-ordinated implementation of IPAP2
2. A regional industrial strategy, to cascade the IPAP 2 down to regions
3. Urgent implementation of beneficiation programmes
4. A change in the IDC mandate so that it focuses on the creation of jobs, and that the financial sector must complement this initiative
5. Agricultural high schools to be opened to support agriculture, agrarian reforms and food security programmes in particular in the rural areas
6. Building capacity in each industrial union to guide industrial policy
7. Control of retirement funds to support industrial development and social imperatives
8. Support for the new perspective on localisation, to empower all spheres of government to procure locally, and call for the widest possible sectoral demarcation, especially in industrial sectors
9. All goods that unions buy to be locally made goods and service so that we may lead by example
10. The current 2-stage transformation process to be maintained and progressive measures, (not tariff reductions) to be developed to integrate SADC and to create a common platform for industrial development strategy
11. Demand that the Competition Act be amended to give expression to our national goals of decent work promotion, job creation and protection of public interest considerations. The competition legislation must be oriented towards job creation and not narrow competition between firms
12. Funding for IPAP 2 to be increased and implemented as a matter of urgency
13. Support for the global call for a just transition towards an environmentally sustainable growth path
On Social Policy Developments
Noting:
1. The need for a social development paradigm shift in South Africa
2. That urban-based development models are being imposed in rural areas without a proper analysis of the rural social and economic situation
3. The deterioration of the health profile of the South African population
4. That despite high levels of poverty, South Africa still does not have a poverty line
5. Food price increases worsen the poverty of the vast majority of the working class
6. Almost 25% of South African households do not have access to adequate food
7. Sector skills plans are hopeless, not aligned to national developmental priorities and do not fundamentally empower workers
8. Education and health sector suffers from skills flight
9. Skills development commitments by capital when awarded operating licences by the state are not being implemented
10. The significant decline in artisan training from 33 000 to 3 000 per annum between 1975 and 2000
11. The majority of South Africans have not benefited from the Soccer World Cup; it did not lead to significant skills development and training for future use in the economy
12. Communities are becoming increasingly impatient with the state and losing confidence in the state to address their plight
13. The top-heavy structure of the education system with 11 ministers, 11 DGs and 30 DDGs
14. Teenage pregnancy, "intergeneration pregnancy" and statutory rape need to be the focus of our mass education campaigns
Believing that:
1. Social development is an important redistributive and transformative element of human development
2. Social development initiatives and programmes should not be based on the profit-motive
3. Social policy is a powerful instrument that can be used to directly create decent jobs in the public sector
4. The delivery of basic social services should always be linked to the strategy to build local industries to support a labour-intensive growth path
5. Food security and nutrition should be prioritized because it affects health, education performance and overall well-being
6. State institutions should not be profit-driven
7. Skills development and training should be led by the state
8. The rural-urban divide in health human resources, and the removal of skilled personnel from clinical areas to higher positions needs to be managed, while providing career-pathing and proper remuneration
9. Deployments that disregard skills profile of those employed in health management lead to poor prioritisation of misallocation of resources
10. All-round education should be provided by NSDS III and other education and training interventions
Therefore resolves to:
On Healthcare
1. Clarify the financing of NHI as soon as possible; it should not be through private medical aid schemes and it should be progressive
2. Call for the operation and rolling out of NHI to be the sole and direct responsibility of the state, with no tenders (catering, cleaning, security and laundry, etc.) and with no Public Private Partnerships
3. Call for supportive complementarity between existing worker controlled and industrial sectoral health facilities and the NHI. We shall convene the COSATU task team to ensure that such complementary roles, does not lead to fragmentation and confusion. COSATU demands that health be seen as an essential service provided by the state
4. Transform the management and operation of health institutions in line with researches done by amongst others NEHAWU/NALEDI and the DBSA
5. Strengthen Integrated District Health System, with effective systems of referrals including primary healthcare, district hospitals and regional hospitals, and examining human resource needs, and a health information system
6. Integrate HIV/Aids and TB services at all levels of care
7. Review school health system with the focus on reproductive health especially on teenagers where condoms and contraceptives will be made available to reduce teenage pregnancy
8. Support the recent ANC NEC Lekgotla's resolve to set up a state-owned pharmaceutical company
9. Build COSATU's capacity to implement the resolutions of 10th Congress on HIV and AIDS
10. Properly integrate community healthcare workers into the public health system; they must be well-remunerated as part of the public service
11. Reinforce the registration of professional cadres with relevant statutory bodies, with emphasis on revitalisation of professionalism amongst health professionals
12. Advocate for exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months, providing maternity leave in the same period, and providing child facilities at workplace for breastfeeding mothers
13. COSATU and organs of civil society to build capacity to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Department of Health's 10 Point Plan
On Education, Skills Development and Training
Resolves to:
1. Re-iterate COSATU's "Adopt-A-School" campaign and call on all affiliates, regions and locals to implement it with immediate effect
2. COSATU, the state, communities and learners must develop a programme to rebuild, transform and extend the education system
3. Re-affirm the resolution that ABET should be given priority, especially numeracy and literacy
4. Call for the state to build internal capacity to directly deliver and maintain school infrastructure
5. Re-examine COSATU's participation in SETA boards and other such structures with a view to improving their effectiveness, accountability and to formulate uniform policy on representation in boards and the payment of representatives
6. Pay special attention to workplace skills plans, because in their current state they do not assist workers
7. Support the call for the implementation of free education up to first phase of tertiary education
8. Call for schools to be compelled to use and intellectualise the African languages so that it can lead to democratisation of access to scientific knowledge and technology
9. Demand that the unnecessary fat in the top management of the Department of Education and Higher Education be cut and that resources be redirected to schools
10. Call for the creation of Centres of Excellence where teachers will be trained to teach technical subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.
11. Implement the FET, Higher Education Summit resolutions
12. Call for the NYDA and the department of labour to have a central information on the skilled unemployed youth
13. Artisan training to be the top priority in the skills revolution
14. Call for punitive measures for companies that do not fulfil their social and labour plans commitments, e.g. mining companies that hold licences
15. Participate in the UNESCO initiative, the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Future
16. Oppose attempts by private service providers to raid SETA levies, and to support the channelling of these levies to public sector training facilities
17. Endorse the skills development and basic education accords recently signed under the New Growth Path negotiations process
On Comprehensive Social Protection
Resolves to call for:
1. Legislation to support a social protection floor below which no household must fall (a guaranteed income by the state)
2. The state to guarantee food security for all households, as part of giving content to the social protection floor and to fight hunger
3. Existing state land to be fully utilised to support quality housing and livelihoods
4. Opposing to regressive financing of the proposed social security system, and to push for progressive taxation
5. The state to build internal capacity to directly deliver quality services
6. Support for a social solidarity economy, through improving its access to infrastructure, finance, skills and markets as part of broadening economic activity in working class communities
7. Use of workers' savings to define the type and shape of comprehensive social security
On Mobilization for a Radical Socio-Economic Transformation Programme
Resolves:
1. That the Alliance should lead the working class struggles on the ground, including leading the ANCYL in its economic transformation programme
2. Mass mobilization, strikes and of rolling mass action for fundamental economic transformation
3. To engage civil society, from shop-floor to community struggles to break the impression that COSATU is only focused on the employed
4. To deepen political education around socio-economic policy and our demands
5. To target education for women, and to train the educators on how to approach women issues
6. To develop the gender indicators for women empowerment, recruitment, training and reporting.
7. To sensitize Alliance formations and mobilise our broad forces to support our campaign
8. To organise a ward-by-ward door-to-door campaign to find out what skills we have
9. To encourage an each-one teach-one" campaign to educate and "adopt-a-buddy" for HIV and Non-Communicable Diseases screening
10. To organise a COP 17 mobilization workshop around job-creation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and a global day of action
On Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability
Noting:
1. The detrimental impact of climate change
2. That industry contributes significantly to carbon emissions
3. That multinationals disregard environment, especially in developing countries that do not have strong states to withstand them
Believing that:
1. Collective action delivers better results, and therefore unions must use their collective power to bring about real and lasting change
2. Climate change must be in the curriculum
Therefore resolves to:
1. Call for environmentally sustainable use of energy sources in workplaces e.g. solar panels in schools and public facilities
2. Demand that SABC elevates the issue of climate change and environmental sustainability in the public consciousness
3. Encourage recycling
4. Demand that climate change and the need to conserve biodiversity be put in the school curriculum
5. Call for increased funding for research on the effects of climate change in South and Southern Africa
6. Initiate a consistent campaign of the Global Union Federations and the ITUC around climate change and the environment
Appendix 3
Central Committee resolution on the NDR
This COSATU 5th Central Committee affirms that:
1. The fundamental objective of the NDR is to create a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
2. The NDR seeks to liberate blacks in general and Africans in particular from political and economic bondage.
3. The NDR seeks to address the three interrelated forms and antagonistic contradictions - national, class exploitation and the triple oppression of women. In simple terms, black people's oppression was not only based on their colour, but was equally a function of the inherent exploitation from colonialism of a special type.
4. African women face triple oppression in their homes, in society and in the workplace. The NDR therefore seeks to resolve the marginalisation of women, especially black and African women in particular. In that sense it aims to reconstruct the relationship between men and women on a more equal basis in the household and in the public sphere.
5. The concept of national democratic revolution also speaks to the desire to build a more egalitarian society.
6. The Freedom Charter is a vision to reconfigure society on a more equal basis, and this requires radical changes in society. We cannot be content with the transfer of political power from the minority to the majority. The Freedom Charter envisioned a politically and economically inclusive society for all. State and mass political power must be used to advance the social and economic transformation of our society.
7. The fundamental national, class and gender contradictions remain entrenched in post-apartheid South Africa. The working class is the primary motive force of the NDR. The leading role of the working class is based on its enduring organisational power, its location within the productive forces, its unity and numbers, as well as its ongoing exploitation. The working class has the responsibility of uniting the widest range of class and social strata in a common struggle for the realisation of the NDR.
8. Whilst for some the creation of a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, and prosperous South Africa is the final destination, for COSATU and other socialists within the Congress movement, the NDR is not a detour but the most direct route to socialism. For us this means that the NDR must build the momentum and capacity for socialism as captured by the SACP slogan: Socialism is the Future - Build it now!
We reaffirm the relevance and role of the Alliance:
1. We repeat the statements from the Alliance programme for fundamental transformation of our society, that: The Alliance is as an expression of an organic relationship born out of struggle and grounded on the shared strategic goals of the NDR, whose demands are elaborated by the ten clauses of the Freedom Charter, the Reconstruction and Development Programme and other policy positions adopted by the Alliance.
Oliver Tambo described the Alliance perfectly when he said:
Ours is not merely a paper Alliance, created at conference tables and formalised through signing of documents and representing only an agreement of leaders. Our Alliance is a living organism that has grown out of struggle.
2. Nation building is an indispensable part of economic and social transformation and, therefore, the NDR. From its inception, almost a century ago, the ANC's core mission has been to build the subjective and objective conditions for a common South African nationhood and citizenship across our various ethnic, racial, class and gendered diversities. Conservative, anti-democratic forces, by contrast, have always sought to perpetuate and aggravate divisions to consolidate their narrow sectoral powers and privileges. Guided by its century-long nation-building strategic objectives in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, the ANC has consolidated a formidable track record and a proud legacy that continues to be an inspiration to an overwhelming majority in our country. In this regard, the ANC has the responsibility to provide leadership not only to its membership and its support base, but also to all South Africans.
3. This nation-building task has become even more important today than in any other time. The 2011 local government elections forcefully reinforce the need to continue uniting our people so that they may appreciate their common citizenship as well as their common South African interests which centre around the need to build a better life for all and continue building a non racial, non sexist and democratic future.
4. This is the strategic context in which the Alliance partners continue to affirm the ANC's leadership role in our Alliance. This leadership role has been earned over many years in the trenches of struggle. The ANC has the responsibility of continuing to invest in this leadership role and may not take it for granted.
5. While programmatically affirming itself as a disciplined force of the left, the ANC is, necessarily, ideologically a broad church embracing a wide range of progressive and democratic forces, ideological currents and people from various backgrounds. The SACP is a socialist formation and COSATU is a progressive, revolutionary trade union federation with a strong class-consciousness. SANCO is a civic movement whose primary responsibility is to take up issues that affect communities. It follows, therefore, that any Alliance programme will embody compromises that consolidate the substantial areas of strategic agreement between Alliance partners. For this reason, our Alliance programme will be a minimum (but still expansive) platform for the participating formations. In the words of Cde Joe Slovo:
The classes and strata which come together in a front of struggle usually have different long-term interests and, often, even contradictory expectations from the immediate phase. The search for agreement usually leads to a minimum platform, which excludes some of the positions of the participating classes and strata. It follows that an Alliance can only be created if these diverse forces are prepared to enter into a compromise.
It should be stressed that the compromise of which Slovo speaks is a revolutionary compromise between the core motive forces of the NDR.
6. The Alliance is the only vehicle capable of driving sustained social transformation. To achieve this, it must be functional, with structures at all levels and a common programme for fundamental transformation of society.
7. In this context we reaffirm the Programme of Action that emerged from Ekurhuleni I and II and also the declaration and the report of the 1st Alliance Summit after the ANC 52nd National Conference held at Gallagher on 9th May 2008.
8. We endorse the Alliance Programme of Action for fundamental transformation of society as adopted in the February 2011 Alliance Summit and urge the Alliance Secretariat to finalise the discussion on the critical matter of the political centre.
9. Informed by our character as internationalists and anti-imperialists we shall continue to analyse the current international balance of forces. We note the current economic turmoil facing the developed nations and Europe in particular. This crisis of capitalism requires that we not only analyse it as a phenomenon but must also act to mitigate its impact in our own country. This analysis and the need to act to mitigate should form part of the Alliance programme of action as whole. There is a need to ensure we act together on the climate change question as we prepare for the COP17 in Durban.
Progress and set backs of the revolution:
We reaffirm that the working class and the country have made significant gains since the democratic breakthrough of April 1994. These gains need to be defended at all times as they are under constant threat from the rightwing and neoliberal ideology. These gains include amongst others the following:
1. Over 3.2 million houses have been built, giving shelter to over 15 million poor South Africans.
2. 6 million households have gained access to clean water. In 1994 only 62% of households had access to clean running water; today 93% do.
3. In 1994 only 50% of households had access to sanitation; today 77% do.
4. In 1994 only 36% of households had access to electricity; today 84% do - this means nearly 5 million homes have been connected.
5. By 2010 14.5 million people were receiving social grants including equal pensions and child support grants from the government.
6. In 1996 only 2.4 million children were receiving child support grants. By 2010 this figure had increased to 9.5 million children and in 2011 child grant will be extended to children below 18 years!
7. The age for men to go on pension is being gradually reduced from 65 to 60 years.
8. More schools have been built with 8 million children from poorest communities receiving a meal a day at school to help them concentrate.
9. Student loans have been converted to bursaries for successful final-year students who qualify for financial aid. Students in further education and training colleges who qualify for financial aid are now exempted from paying fees
10. More clinics and hospitals have been built. Today pregnant mothers and children below the age of 6 years are treated for free in government health institutions.
11. Today 1.4 million people are receiving free antiretrovirals from the government. The campaign against HIV and AIDS has been stepped up! Government aims to test 15 million people by June 2011.
12. Thousands of community development workers are bringing government services closer to the people. The ANC National General Council held in September said these workers must be employed full time by the government.
13. Crime is coming down, with murder declining by 8.6%.
14. The Constitution gives workers rights, including the right to form and join unions, the right to collective bargaining and to strike to advance our rights, the right to be treated fairly and to sign union security agreements such as agency and closed shop agreements when our unions are a majority in the workplace. Further to this, government has passed many labour laws to advance these rights. These include the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act, and Employment Equity Act. As we speak we are negotiating with government another set of amendments to address the problems associated with labour brokering. COSATU has demanded that this system of perpetually employing workers as temporary through the human- trafficking labour brokers must be banned!
Precisely because of our and our community struggles, the ANC have prioritised five areas for government. These are:
1. Creation of decent work and building sustainable livelihoods for all
2. Education including prioritising training and reskilling of workers
3. Health, including the introduction of a National Health Insurance, so that health care could be free at the point of entry
4. Rural Development including fighting for food security
5. Fighting crime and corruption
Progress has been registered in all these areas already, since the election of the government under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma. For example, on jobs, government announced two major policies - the Industrial Policy Action Plan in April 2010 and New Growth Path in November 2010. Government has set a target to create 5 million jobs in the next 10 years.
Already government has set aside R9 billion to undertake job-creating initiatives in the next 3 years. Another R10 billion has been set aside by the IDC to create mainly green jobs. Government has set aside over R800 billion rands to build infrastructure in the next three years including more roads, fencing of our communities, etc.
Strategic political task of the working class
Our task in the current conjuncture is to defend the ANC 52nd National Conference progressive resolutions and ensure that we embark on a series of campaigns to ensure their effective implementation. The political task of the working class in this conjuncture is to defend the leadership collective elected in this conference against those who have from inception launched campaigns to put this leadership on the a back foot and who have undermined their authority.
Our task is to work with government to realise the common objectives summarised in the ANC elections manifesto of 2009, and ensure that the programme of decent work is taken forward. We want the government to succeed on its five priorities because we know their failure will spell disaster for the working class.
We will do so not by becoming uncritical supporters of both the ANC and government leadership. We shall at all times engage strategically with the ANC to ensure that it builds capacity and has the necessary confidence to act decisively to lead the Alliance and society. At the same time, when the leadership allows paralysis and lack of confidence in our movement, we shall, in a principled fashion, speak out and embark on campaigns to ensure that the revolution stays on track. We shall at all times engage the ANC leadership on our concerns so that they may appreciate why we have chosen to embark on such campaigns.
Challenges and threats facing the NDR
1. The challenge to pursue the struggle for the total emancipation of our people
1.1 Revolutionary morality means battling side by side with the oppressed and exploited, leading them in a struggle against the existing order. It means sticking to that mandate and not deviating from it. Our task as revolutionaries is to deepen the national democratic revolution by ensuring a fundamental transformation of society. We must in a consistent manner build a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa. Revolutionary morality means we must be in the forefront of the struggles to liberate black people in general and Africans in particular. It also means we must end the exploitation of workers. We must liberate women from their triple exploitation. Freeing women means we must end all practices that oppress them; in our homes, in our society, and end their exploitation as workers.
1.2 Pursuit of these struggles, in the words of the Chinese Constitution, means that we must always represent the development trend of advanced productive forces, always represent the orientation of advanced culture, and always represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. In pursuance of this task we must always be modest and prudent and must always work hard and continue to struggle.
1.3 The biggest threat we face is the collapse of our revolutionary morality and our revolutionary moral compass, as tendencies that show no respect to the organisation become common. Too many cadres in our movement do whatever they like as if the movement lacks policies and principles. Some of the utterances emanating from within the movement borders on sexism and racism. We must rein in such comrades and not tolerate such conduct even if levelled against the opposition. If we are not consistent in maintaining the principles of our movement it is not inconceivable that they will also be eroded internally. What distinguishes us from others is that we are guided by the imperative of service and accountability to the people. No individual is bigger than the organisation. The time has come for our movement to reassert its moral integrity and authority.
1.4 We strongly agree with the assertion made at the ANC National General Council held in September 2010 when it stated that:
... there should be no confusing signals and messages from the leadership on matters of discipline.
The responsibility to assert the core values and principles of our movement rests with every leader, every cadre, every member and every supporter of the ANC. These amongst others are: a steadfast adherence to the interests of the people, unity, selflessness, sacrifice, collective leadership, humility, honesty, discipline, hard work, internal debate, constructive criticism and self-criticism and mutual respect.
2. Failure to transform the economy a threat to the NDR
2.1 The Freedom Charter demands that the wealth of the country should be shared amongst all the people. The growth path we have followed in our country has simply reproduced unemployment, poverty and inequalities.
2.2 The advances we have made in the recent past on the policy front, such as the adoption of the IPAP and the New Growth Path are hamstrung by conservative macroeconomic policies based on capitalist neoliberal theories that maintain the existing unequal and exploitative economic fault lines which we inherited from the days of apartheid.
2.3 We note with concern that whilst we have political medals we don't have economic jewellery.
2.4 At the end of the tenth anniversary of our freedom, we made a painful conclusion that in economic terms the first decade of freedom saw capital, in particular white monopoly capital, gaining more than the working class. The capitalist class in this country has immensely benefited from our hard-won democracy. We are faced with a situation where our rights are at a risk of becoming meaningless due to the privatisation of wealth into the hands of a mainly white male minority. Privatisation, commercialisation and user-pay principles have combined to put our gains further away from the reach of the working class and the poor. This means that many of the social gains we have made have in some instances become mere pieces of paper, due to the lack of transformation of our economy. We need to achieve our demand for full employment and a living wage to fully benefit from the extension of basic services.
2.5 We have committed ourselves to ensuring that in the second decade, the working class gains more. Yet, as we are left with only three years before the end of this second decade, we conclude that there can be no doubt that the trajectory followed since 1994 will continue and that at the end of the second decade we still make the same conclusion that freedom has benefited capital more, in economic terms. Our battle today is to ensure that we begin to see signs indicating that we are following a different trajectory to the one we have seen thus far.
2.6 The working class have seen rising levels of unemployment, which today stands at 36, 6%, greater than any other middle-income country or any comparable economy. Poverty remains widespread, afflicting 48% of our population who live on R322 a month or less. This figure could be as high as 60%, based on the 2010 UN Human Development Report.
2.7 South Africa has become the most unequal society in the world, demonstrated by the fact that the richest decile is earning about 94 times more than the poorest decile of our population.
2.8 Africans, who constitute 79, 4% of the population, account for 41, 2% of the household income from work and social grants, whereas whites, who account for only for 9, 2% of the population, receive 45, 3% of income. The poorest 10% of the population share R1, 1 billion, whilst the riches 10% share R381 billion.
2.9 We commit ourselves to an all-round struggle to ensure that the NDR remains on track. Through in particular ensuring that the triple challenge of catastrophic unemployment, grinding poverty and growing inequalities is addressed.
2.10 We will launch relentless struggles against the primary enemy of the working class - capital - to ensure that its domination of our economy and national politics is challenged and eventually dislodged. This we can only achieve if we succeed to build class-consciousness and the fighting capacity of the working class.
3. Battle against corruption and the new tendency of tenderpreneurs
3.1 Our starting point is to recognise that it is the capitalist system that breeds corruption. As long as this system of private accumulation of wealth is in place so will the crisis of corruption continue to prevail in our society. The values of the capitalist system are in contradiction with those of the liberation movement, which are selflessness, sacrifice, equity, solidarity and justice.
3.2 We reiterate that most of the public servants and representatives are honest men and women who have swelled the ranks of the state to pursue the goals of the NDR without angling for any personal material gain. Yet we are threatened by a relatively small band of corrupt officials and leaders from within the state, in our unions and in society in general.
3.3 We have seen the emergence of a new tendency of tenderpreneurs that have reinforced the ideology of the 1996 class project. The primary goal of the new tendency is not a total emancipation of our people but to use rhetoric to cover its aims of primitive accumulation. Failure to dislodge this tendency will mean that our revolution would be hijacked to be an instrument for self-enrichment programmes that will sideline the aspirations of our people.
3.4 The new tendency of tenderpreneurs is not genuine entrepreneurs who have a legitimate right to pursue constitutionally guaranteed rights to trade. Tenderpreneurs are those who do not seek to build productive capacity of their companies or of the manufacturing sector, but who instead use political connections and political power, often in the most corrupt way, to win tenders in government for primitive and parasitic accumulation.
3.5 We need to go beyond moral condemnation. We must deal with the systemic issues which are reproducing corruption. To do this we need a far-reaching programme to fight this cancer. Fighting the scourge of corruption requires clear leadership. We must develop a programme with our allies and civil society to defeat corruption and greed within our ranks and in our society. We need to put the predatory elite on the back foot.
3.6 We welcome government's commitment in fighting corruption, using state institutions such as the SIU, the Hawks, SARS and the Inter-ministerial committee against corruption etc. We urge the government to act swiftly and redouble its efforts and work in partnership with the Alliance and civil society to expose corruption without any fear or favour.
3.7 Government must be seen to be acting swiftly in fighting against corruption. Leadership must remain exemplary in their conduct and must always consciously act beyond reproach to inspire confidence and trust by the masses of our people. Such conduct will go a long way in defending the National Democratic Revolution.
3.8 We have already started building a powerful anti-corruption institution of civil society - Corruption Watch, with the capacity (including a team of lawyers, accountants, auditors, etc.) to conduct preliminary investigations into allegations, and process these with the relevant authorities. We need to buttress this and other efforts of government with mass campaigns on the ground to challenge the logic of primitive accumulation and corruption.
3.9 Failure to do all of these tasks will lead to the defeat of the revolution. It means that our people will start to believe the opposition and the media that already caricature the ANC as a corrupt, inept organisation, riddled with factional and succession battles. Failure to tackle this means our country will go to the dogs and South Africa will become another African basket case.
4. Neoliberalism is the enemy of our revolution
4.1 The core of neoliberals have realised that our vision for a united, democratic, non-racist, non-sexist and prosperous South African is popular with the masses of the people. They understand fully that our struggle heroes and heroines have a special place in the hearts of those who love and have struggled for freedom and democracy. They know the symbols of our movement are engrained in the minds of our people. They know that struggle history invokes good memories that remind our people of the finest values of the liberation movement.
4.2 The liberals who have coalesced around the Democratic Alliance have embarked on a programme to proclaim the liberation movement as theirs, disingenuously claiming that the ANC in particular and the Alliance in general have abandoned the values of Nelson Mandela and the older generation. This they do to camouflage their real intention, which is to steal our hard won victories for the capitalist class they represent.
4.3 Our task is to expose the agenda and limitations of the neoliberalism. As instructed by our 10th National Congress we shall heighten current programmes to build political and ideological consciousness of our members and the working class more broadly
4.4 We shall expose the true agenda of right-wing formations such as Solidarity and Afri-forum who use the courts to defend the status quo. We shall also campaign against the neoliberal economic policies advanced by the DA, which seeks to enslave the working class to the bourgeoisies. We shall fight neoliberal ideology and programmes within the movement and in society in general. We shall continue to fight neoliberal policies in the state.
5. Threat of violence from the fringe ultra-right
5.1 We reiterate that the opponents of our revolution are unable to attack the vision of the Freedom Charter and Reconstruction and Development Programme, even though we know that they are fundamentally opposed to everything these historic documents stand for.
5.2 Right-wing politics, especially of the white supremacy variety, are totally discredited and have no viable chance of success. This may drive a lunatic fringe from the white right to adopt extra-parliamentary tactics to make their point. The ‘boeremag' attempt at a violent strategy is one example.
5.3 We must ensure that we isolate this lunatic fringe and consistently expose their real agenda, which is the preservation and maintenance of the status quo.
Adoption of radical programme to ensure total emancipation of our people
1. We shall continue to demand and campaign for the total restructuring of our economy, so that it can be placed on a labour-absorbing trajectory. We need to ensure an end of the domination by the mining/finance complex and build the industrial sector based on meeting the basic needs of our people.
2. We reaffirm our historic demands for wealth redistribution and nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy, and as well for effective land redistribution, in order to ensure that the Freedom Charter demands for wealth and land redistribution are realised.
3. We reaffirm our position on nationalisation as outlined in the Freedom Charter: "The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people; the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole; all; All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people; all people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions."
4. We support the ANC - NGC position on nationalisation outlined below:
Acknowledged, greater consensus on nationalisation of mines and other strategic sectors of the economy
Urged government to expedite the establishment of the state mining company to consolidate all assets of the state in the mining industry. The mining company should be given a mandate to consider various forms of ownership including partnerships with the private sector
Called on government to develop a mining sector strategy within 12 months
Required consequential amendments to the MPRDA
Mandated the NEC to ensure that further work be done, including research, study tours and discussions, and to report to the Policy Conference for a decision at the National Conference in 2012.
5. We instruct the COSATU CEC to develop a programme to advance its resolution on nationalisation as encapsulated in the Freedom Charter. This will include working with Alliance partners including the leagues and all other relevant social forces. In this context COSATU will make its contribution to the ANC- led process on nationalisation as per the 2010 ANC - NGC resolution.
6. We condemn the use of this important matter as a campaign instrument or to blackmail those who may hold a different view. This is a policy debate and not an instrument for leadership contestation. It must be treated as such.
7. Our understanding is that nationalisation is structurally feasible and beneficial, particularly when it is directed at those sectors that produce primary inputs to the national productive process.
8. Sectors that should be nationalised should be those that (i) are based on natural wealth and represent the heritage of all South Africans, (ii) are characterised by large firms with significant monopoly power and, (iii) play a decisive role in the performance of the sectors that drive our growth path.
9. Nationalisation is not an end in itself or a panacea to all our economic challenges. It must be constructed as a progressive policy to empower our people as whole. It must help us socialise the means of production and be a means to advance towards socialism. Such an advance can only be realised under the leadership of the SACP, as the only vanguard of the working class. In this context the SACP has an inescapable responsibility to provide the required leadership.
10. We reiterate our call for the Constitution to be amended so that the property clause that has helped maintain the current status quo be addressed. We acknowledge that the Constitution does allow expropriation for developmental challenges and redress. We do not support expropriation of land without compensation; at the same time we reject attempts by the owners of the land to inflate prices as a strategy to block land redistribution.
11. We must mobilise the country behind the demand for more aggressive land and wealth redistribution and show the real dangers of maintaining the status quo. In this regard we call for a real dialogue amongst all our people, including with the opposition parties. We believe the overwhelming majority of South Africans from all walks of life will agree that the current patterns of land ownership spell a disaster for our country's political future. We will buttress this national dialogue with a need to increase the ANC majority in parliament to the necessary levels that will allow for the Constitution to be amended.
12. The unity of the Alliance is sacrosanct; so is the unity of each component of the Alliance. We must continue to do everything to ensure that the Alliance succeeds in the current efforts to unite behind the goals of our revolution. We shall ensure that we take forward the Alliance programme of action that seeks to transform our society in line with the goals of our revolution. Our immediate task is to ensure that the Alliance works on the ground.
13. We reiterate our demand for the Alliance as a whole to be regarded as a Political Centre. We must pursue the idea of an Alliance Pact and further reconfigure the Alliance so that the Alliance Political Council constituted by the National Office bearers of each Alliance component, is modelled around the experiences of the ANC's effective Revolutionary Council in exile. We understand that this will be earned in the actual course of the struggle to effect fundamental change in the interest of deepening the NDR. A meeting of the Alliance Political Council must be convened to conclude discussions on this strategic question of our revolution.
14. We shall continue to pursue all the goals of our 2015 Plan, which aims to build COSATU. Inspired by the 2015 Plan, we shall continue to build the consciousness of our members so that they swell the ranks of the ANC and the SACP and build an effective Alliance on the ground. We shall continue to campaign to ensure that we build an active developmental state, capable of leading the reconstruction and development of our country. COSATU's 9th Congress resolution calls for synergy between COSATU's 2015 Plan and the SACP's Medium Term Vision. This must be achieved.
15. We shall continue to work closely with progressive civil society formations. We shall seek to work with those whose programmes do not seek to liquidate our revolutionary Alliance but buttress our efforts to build a better life for all. Civil society is a contested terrain in a class based society such as ours, in which the main class protagonists seek to win over and build a broader base for their ideals so that these are imposed as national interests. COSATU and other forces of revolution will not abdicate their revolutionary responsibility to influence these formations by working with them on the ground. In this regard we shall proceed with the necessary speed to hold civil society conferences in all provinces to take forward the resolutions of the 2010 national civil society conference. We shall not dare label civil society because we may from time to time differ with some of their tactical approaches. We must however not shy away from our right to use our Marxism to analyse any political phenomenon including amongst civil society formations.
16. We shall seek to isolate the rightwing and other neoliberal formations in civil society that seek to reverse the gains of our revolution including the activities such as those of Afri-forum and Solidarity, which undermines the gains of employment equity in the courts. This must not be mistaken for actions to defend the economic rights of citizens promised in our Constitution.
17. We condemn the efforts by some elements within our ranks to divert our attention from the goals of our revolution - including the need to ensure we effectively take forward the five priorities of the 2009-2014 elections manifesto - through embarking on a premature succession debate using wrong platforms such as the media. This will lead to a serious backlash as more and more of the people come to a conclusion that we cannot unite them behind our revolutionary goals.
18. We shall continue to expose the agenda of the new tendency of tenderpreneurs who seek to hijack our movement for personal gain and wealth accumulation. In particular we shall ensure that they do not succeed to highjack the ANC at its 53rd National Conference in order to achieve their goals.
19. We shall not allow ourselves to be manipulated by any faction, for narrow factional goals. When it is the right time, we expect the members of all Alliance components to assess the performance of the current leadership. This right flows from all the constitutions of our independent formations and is a critical instrument to improve accountability and internal democracy. Workers who are members of these formations must exercise this right informed by the strategic goals of the federation to ensure that we continue to shift the politic of the Alliance and the country to the left. We call on the current leadership to help us so that we may help them by ensuring that the goals of the revolution for a radical transformation of society are taken forward.
20. We call for better management of differences amongst Alliance formations. Most of what goes into the public should be managed internally through such structures as the National Political Council and the Alliance secretariat. Articulation of COSATU positions in opposition to the government or even other components of the Alliance policy positions should not be seen as public spats. It also does not take away the right and responsibility of comrades to engage robustly on any political question as they try to find answers to the burning questions of our society. This articulation should happen in a manner that seeks to build consensus and unity of the Alliance and should not degenerate into name calling and labelling.
21. The two General Secretaries of COSATU and the SACP must urgently meet to take forward the decisions of the bilateral meeting held on 6th September 2010. These agreements, among others include the following:
21.1 Convene an Ideological Commission to develop a terms of reference for a programme towards Socialism.
21.2 Develop a brief document reflecting on the theoretical discussions that took place during the meeting, which could inform future engagements.
21.3 Convene a meeting of the Socialist block in South Africa and in Africa.
21.4 Prepare for the ANC 53rd National Conference and Policy Conference.
21.5 Ensure synergy between our programmes, including taking forward the process of a daily newspaper and mass political education programmes targeting the youth/ young workers.
21.6 Develop a plan towards a joint Organisational Development programme whose outcome will lay down a clear process of assessment and evaluation of our programmes and effective accountability mechanisms.
21.7 Provide an outline of the resources that will be required to support the SACP and a plan to mobilise those resources.
21.8 Develop an approach on how we should defend the progressive positions in ANC policy and its continued bias towards the working class.
21.9 Consciously build the unity of the Alliance on the ground around the vision of the Freedom Charter and a programme to drive the five priorities.
21.10 Articulate a vision that will draw the broadest section of people, particularly the middle strata. The vision should demonstrate that there is a common cause between the working class and the black middle strata and to an extent the emerging black bourgeoisie to fight for the radical transformation of our society.
21.11 This can take the form of campaigns like the financial sector campaign, agrarian reforms and breaking the stranglehold of white monopoly capital.
21.12 Ensure that the SACP-COSATU bilateral meetings are also convened at a provincial level to pursue working class driven programmes.
21. COSATU's view that the SACP is being weakened and its national profile is on the decline as a result of its decision to change its constitution to allow the post of the General Secretary not to be full time is a matter that should be guided by the spirit of this resolution. See point 20 above. COSATU should however respect this as a decision of the SACP constitutional structures. COSATU also accepts the SACP argument that deployment of its cadres is informed by its Medium Term Vision that enjoins the SACP to occupy all fronts of struggle including in the state. COSATU agrees with this strategic objective that communists must be in all sites of struggle but insists that the current situation does not strike a balance between this need and a need to build a strong SACP on the ground. COSATU will have space to influence the SACP in the run- up to its 13th National Congress. In the meantime this should not be allowed to divide COSATU and the SACP and must, as far as it is possible, be better managed in the internal debates between the two formations.
22. COSATU must convene a conference of young workers, which will also include the Progressive Youth Alliance, to discuss on among others the crisis of youth unemployment, the youth wage subsidy and the Living Wage campaign.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] J Blyth and J Hopkins. How the flexible labour markets failed Europe. www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/20/italy-spain-debt-crisis-markets
[2] Schmitt J, May 2011. Labour Market Policy in the Great Recession: lessons from Denmark and Germany. Centre for Economic and Policy Research
[3] Dicks R, 2010, Economic and Industrial Policy making in South Africa: Future Scenarios and Policy Options
Issued by COSATU, August 25 2011
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