SADTU Welcomes the 55th National Conference of the ANC Elected Leadership Collective

23 December 2022

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU), organising and representing over 265 000 Education Workers across the length and breadth of our country, welcomes the newly elected members of the ANC’s 55th National Congress, National Executive Committee.

It is worth mentioning that some within our national political discourse had already written the obituary of ANC prior to its 55th National Conference.

Understandably, this was informed by the perceived or even real internal challenges that the ANC had been facing in recent times. Factions have been institutionalised at every level of the ANC and this can only spell disaster for our glorious movement.

The ANC was founded on the basis of defeating amongst others - tribalism, regionalism by uniting the exploited and disenfranchised majority of our country beyond sex, gender, economic status, creed, race, and other social ills that for the longest time defined our society as a country.

Many, if not most liberation movements across the continent in particular have suffered the consequences of the arrogance that comes with incumbency, leading to what some may categorise as “failed states”.

This is the trajectory that the ANC and the broader alliance have been fighting against since the ‘94 democratic breakthrough.

Certain unfathomable tendencies in the context of our movement like vote buying, factional slates, the isolation of activists from the left axis within the alliance had found their way into our movement.

We expect the NEC and the elected Officials to support President Ramaphosa’s programme of dealing decisively with corruption. The implementation of the state ca - pture recommendations must now be aggressively implemented without any fear or favour.

The fact that some companies are now returning stolen money from Eskom and other SOEs is proof of the work that our law enforcement agencies are doing as strengthened and supported by the President.

This NEC must ensure that the money that is being repatriated from those companies which were involved in corruption is used to support youth employment, education, and healthcare capacity.

The fact that companies are paying back money is proof that our law enforcement agencies are doing the right thing. They must also follow the individuals who facilitated corruption and get back the money stolen in order to use it for poverty relief programmes while ensuring that the energy crisis is resolved as a matter of urgency.

Furthermore, we are calling upon the elected leadership collective to deal decisively with the land question, the historical injustice that partly informs the current structural deficiencies of economic outlook. We view the unresolved land question as an element that perpetuates the colonial anatomy that defines our country decades into our democracy.

SADTU has always called for a radical transformation of the curriculum such that the system can yield South Africans with the required values and ethics to advance our collective objective of nation building. The chronic pandemic of corruption reflects the moral degeneration of our society.

We are calling on all South Africans to remain vigilant and be active citizens in as far as reporting corrupt activities by decision makers and government officials to the relevant authorities. We are saying no! to corruption and malfeasance.

It is our firm view that if we are to build a truly capable state, we need to have public services being prioritised for funding and resourcing purposes.

We can never normalise a situation in which more teachers, nurses, medical practitioners, and police officers among other public services that are required to serve our population development needs, yet there is no adequate budget allocated to respond to these needs.

The newly elected NEC should focus on supporting the ANC-led government to unite our people behind the economic recovery programme. The country must attract both domestic and international investment in order to deal with unemployment crisis.

Education being the enabler must remain the apex priority of the government and this renewed ANC NEC should ensure that it helps the country to achieve Vision 2032 as adopted by the Conference.

As mandated by our own 9th National Congress, we remain committed to fighting against austerity measures in public services that are being brought in through the back door. We will defend collective bargaining and will fearlessly advocate for optimal working conditions for education workers that can also guarantee the safety of teachers, learners and all public servants including workers in the private sector.

Those “dead-wood” ministers as we categorically classify them must do the right thing and resign so that the President can focus on serving the country without any agents provocateurs who have no affection for the people of our country.

We wish them well and want to remind them that the legitimacy of any government is the satisfaction of the people regarding the quality of services they receive.

We remind them that renewal, unity and building the movement is about the country and the people, not their personal career and political ambitions.

Renewal and unity mean dealing with the demon of tribalism because this demon can and has the potential to derail our democracy and progress.

We are committed to working with the new leadership collective so that through education, we can tangibly shape and transform our nation.

Statement issued by SADTU Secretariat, 23 December 2022