Thanks for the opportunity to return to your provincial congress at this critical period of a phenomenal political tornado. I want to speak to and assess all these challenges, obviously from our class point of view and in the context of our 2015 Plan so that as we begin the march to the 10th National Congress of COSATU in September 2009 we can all begin to build a consensus on the nature of our challenges.

In the run up to the 9th National Congress in September 2006, our CEC discussion paper declared that "the post-apartheid socio-economic order could be characterised as one in which there is positive economic growth and opportunities for amassing wealth for a limited few. This growth is not equitably shared and does not trickle down fast enough to many who are desperately poor. While there is a formal break with the apartheid racial ordering of society, the dualistic development path continues, albeit with new features. Fundamentally the accumulation regime has not changed; hence development and under-development continue to coexist. Cheap labour is reproduced under different circumstance, including through sub-contracting and increased use of women labour, and through exploitation of undocumented migrant workers especially Zimbabweans...

This did not have to be, and neither was it inevitable. Of course no one can claim that it is possible to root out more than 300 years of colonial legacy in 12 years. Similarly, it cannot be argued that what is taking place in South Africa is entirely in line with the National Democratic Revolution, as historically conceived by the liberation movement.

The NDR is about thoroughgoing transformation of social and property relations. There have been numerous warnings against the danger of superficial change, or put another way, the dangers of simply replacing a white ruling oligarchy with a black one but leaving the social and property relations unchanged. The ANC's 1969 Morogoro Strategic Perspective in particular was scathing on this as unacceptable for our NDR.

The Freedom Charter's economic vision, taken forward in the RDP, offers a radical programme for such a change of social and economic relations. With the adoption of GEAR this economic transformation vision has not been taken forward and economic reforms largely concentrate on making the economy internationally competitive."

That paper went further to ask a question so fundamental and so important: "How do we explain this contradictory socio-economic reality and what the strategic implications for the democratic movement are in general and the labour movement in particular?

These are troubling questions for workers and the poor as they sharply raise another vexing question: Has democracy failed the workers and the poor? Have we reached a tipping point where the post-apartheid state could be defined as one acting on behalf of the affluent in our society? How do we account for the sharp differences in the perspectives about the economy and our society as if we were coming from different planets? What is the weight of the working class politically in South Africa and how has this allowed for the apparent pro-capitalist bias? What steps do we need to take to asset working class power that is proactive in determining a readjustment of resources in our society? Finally what is the value of our democracy to the working class?

These questions demonstrate that in a way our revolution was approaching a crossroads. These hard statements followed the equally important and historic conclusions we made in 2005 when celebrating 10 years of democracy. We declared that in economic terms the main benefits of transformation accrued to capital and not to labour.

In 2003 at our 8th National Congress we concluded that instead of endlessly complaining about the marginalisation from the sidelines we adopted the 2015 Plan that sought to strengthen COSATU and build the ANC and the SACP, build the Alliance and the democratic state and swell the ranks of the ANC so that we maintain its bias towards the workers and the poor.

I am very proud to have served as the General Secretary of COSATU during this period of uncertainty that demanded decisive leadership, consistency and clarity of mind. COSATU has not been found wanting. Many of us carry deep scars from the titanic battle for the direction of the ANC and our revolution.

COSATU has undoubtedly earned its stripes in the battlefield, touched the central nerve of the nation and reaffirmed its role as the conscience of the nation and the voice of the most marginalised sections of our population.

As we speak today, thanks to our consistency and clarity of mind we have seen Polokwane and witnessed a revolt of ANC members against the top-down near-autocratic style of managing the organisation. This revolt led to the election of new leadership and adoption of left-leaning pro-poor policies.

Yes Polokwane resolutions have not altogether closed debates on the economy. But, they have however gone a long way to close the policy gaps and opened up debates on even the thorniest of economic policy issues. The most significant aspect of the economic resolution of Polokwane is to anchor economic policy around job creation (decent work), poverty eradication, and combating inequality.

When Polokwane is compared to existing government policy and practice, overall, the policies represent a major shift - especially considered in the context of policy debates since the 2005 NGC and ANC Policy Conference. It will however be an exaggeration to say that Polokwane represents, in all respects a radical policy shift. There remain areas of contradiction, ambivalence, silences, and disagreements, as well as clearly progressive perspectives. We need to consider Polokwane resolutions as a whole and in context of debates in run-up to conference.

The resolutions call for all economic policies to centre not on some abstract conception of growth, but on employment creation and poverty alleviation. That means we need to reconceptualise macro-economic policies, including narrow inflation-targeting and restrictions on taxation, as well as industrial policy, which currently does not sufficiently indicate how it will create decent work for our people on a mass scale.

The resolutions also call for an agrarian development programme, which must bring decent livelihoods to those of our people who were historically most oppressed - farm workers and people in the former homelands. We need to ask what that means. Above all, we need to ensure that land reform becomes a programme that creates livelihoods on a mass scale for our people, in contrast to programmes that call only for enrichment of a few black commercial farmers. We also need to ensure that infrastructure and government services do more to support development of impoverished rural areas.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the resolutions call for thoroughgoing democratisation of our society, from the state to the economy to communities on the ground. We need to ensure that the state bureaucracy becomes more responsive to the masses, that it has to listen to the concerns of our members and the working class as a whole, and that our organisations are treated as the legitimate voice of our communities, not as one more in a queue of special interests.

Progressive elements of resolutions themselves remain contested, as we have seen since the Conference. The meaning of Polokwane has been subjected to considerable spin-doctoring. Key areas of progressive advance on cross-cutting issues are:

1. An elaboration of the notion of a progressive developmental state, with a bias towards the working class and a less neutral relationship with capital

2. A shift from a one-sided focus on growth, to acceptance that the current growth path has to be fundamentally shifted

3. An emphasis on tackling inequality, as well as poverty and unemployment

4. An Industrial policy which will be well resourced, aimed at creating decent work, expansion of labour-absorbing sectors, diversification, active beneficiation, sustainable export industries, expanded production for domestic and regional consumption. Industrial policy leads the approach to sector development while trade policy plays a supportive role.

A brief look at the past nine months

The CEC correctly identified a single most important challenge moving forward - we must defend Polokwane and the democratic gains workers made. These gains include but are not limited to the following:

1. A constructive environment for engagement and policy debates, as opposed to the acrimonious public spats of the past, and an end to the use of labels to silence political opponents within the Alliance.

2. A progressive policy platform from Polokwane, the January 8 statement, ANC Lekgotla, and Alliance Summit.

3. A process to develop an Alliance Programme of Action that, if managed strategically, will go a long way to meet our demand for an Alliance Pact or Alliance agreement on governance.

4. The Alliance Summit decision that that the Alliance as a whole is a strategic political centre and the agreement that the Alliance will form part of the deployment committees, thereby addressing a demand of COSATU. This principled agreement is absolutely important even though it must still be given a practical meaning in all processes.

5. Opening the economic debate, which will lead to the Alliance Economic Policy Conference on 3-5 October. COSATU now participates in a number of key ANC NEC sub committees and its ability to influence government policy has accordingly increased.

6. Opening of a space to debate issues without any fear by all citizens and organisations. Regrettably this debate is largely not focused on answering a question: what is to be done to address the high unemployment, poverty and growing inequalities?

7. The masses of the people have used the space to agitate and mobilise around their issues as demonstrated by the increased participation in the recent and ongoing COSATU campaigns to protect and enhance the standards of living of all South Africans

8. Parliamentarians are reasserting their authority and increasingly holding the executive to account on behalf of the population. The days of sycophancy belong to the past. This is a completely new environment, with MPs meeting their constitutional obligation for a separation of powers between the executive and parliament, even in the context of the ANC being the governing party. This has strengthened democracy.

9. Linked to this re-emergence of a vibrant and dynamic parliament, the Money Bill has been introduced, so that parliament may amend all money bills. This satisfies COSATU's historic demand and meets the constitutional obligation.

10. Passing the Broadcasting Amendment Act that will address our demand for the replacement of the current SABC Board with a new more representative board.

11. The agreement with the ANC not to proceed with a number of bills, which were being rushed through parliament by some ministers on the eve of elections without sufficient consultations with stakeholders, including the Alliance.

12. The dismissal of non-performing premiers, which hopefully will go a long way to communicate a message that in future deployment will no longer be based on loyalty alone but on capacity to deliver. We however noted that there was not sufficient consultation on replacements.

Having said this, and after acknowledging the progress we are making to realise the objectives of our 2015 Plan to strengthen COSATU and the workers voice and to build the Alliance, the CEC has acknowledged that it has also a responsibility not only to its members but to the broader society.

COSATU seeks to lead not itself but society as a whole. The Alliance seeks to lead society to the realisation our people's historic demand for the creation of a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa. Whilst we must defend our democratic gains, we must at the same time act in a manner that seeks to unite the whole country and allay the fears of all our people including the minorities.

The political environment remains fluid and some of the gains we have made remain only tentative and are not legislated. Problems remain in the following areas:

1. Insufficient cohesion within the Alliance. On occasions this has led to petty squabbles and contests for positions, as showed by the contests in both the ANCYL and ANCWL national conferences.

2. The divisions, whilst waning, remain in most of our organisations.

3. The media hysteria about the perceived threat to the independence of the judiciary, constitutional democracy and basic freedoms. A responsible movement that seeks to unite the country must be seen to going out of its way to assure everyone that the threat does not exist, as the ANC Deputy President and others have begun to do.

4. The growing uneasiness of some prominent individuals, intellectuals, clergy and minorities, even within the movement, voicing discontent about what they perceive to be a threat to our basic freedoms, questioning the moral standing of the current ANC and Alliance leadership and painting a negative picture about the future.

5. The ugly contest for leadership in some ANC regions and provinces, notably the Northern Cape and North West, which were on occasions violent and a public embarrassment.

Informed by the above the CEC agreed that we need a plan to consolidate the hegemony of the working class within the ANC and society, while assuaging the concerns of minorities and some prominent citizens who have voiced concerns about perceived threats to constitutional structures, by presenting our real views as opposed to the distortions peddled by the media. We are already involved in a number of engagements around this matter.

Yesterday I met Archbishop Desmond Tutu, three weeks ago I met Dr Allan Boesak and on the 9 October I will meet Archbishop Ndungane. This is in addition to meeting employers and investors. This engagement must continue. COSATU is extremely worried that the public discourse is not based on what the country must do to address unemployment, poverty and growing inequalities. The public debates are largely dominated by the perceived threat to constitutional democracy.

Steps must be taken to ensure that public spats and disagreements are not conducted at the expense of the ANC and the Alliance. The ANC must work hard to inspire confidence in itself and show that the new leadership represents a completely new agenda based on a progressive platform that will address the needs of the majority.

We were in Pietermaritzburg on 12 September 2008. We listened to and read the judgement of Judge Chris Nicholson. We felt vindicated that someone respected for his attention to details came to the conclusion workers long made - that state institutions have been used to settle narrow political squabbles and that Jacob Zuma has not been treated fairly.

We supported the decision of the ANC NEC to recall President Thabo Mbeki, not only in response to the judgement, but mainly because politically his continued leadership of the country, when he had lost the confidence of the ANC members, as demonstrated in Polokwane, no longer made political sense.

The existence of two centres of power continued to plunge ANC from one crisis to the next. Initially as everybody knows, we took a strong position that President Mbeki must be allowed to finish his term in office despite losing the confidence of ANC members. We did that so that we could help heal the ANC and to send out a message that there should be no retributions.

But President Mbeki disarmed us throughout this past 9 months. He was belligerent throughout. He sought to compete for space with the ANC and the new leadership. He held counter-press conferences including on such important days as January 8th. He did not extend the hand of friendship and not lead a process for reconciliation and healing. To him Polokwane meant nothing. He pretended that it did not happen and continued with business as usual even though his state of the nation address promised business unusual.

In short his continued presence in government meant that the ANC would take a longer time to heal the organisation, close the chapter of divisions and unite the organisation behind the new leadership and programmes. The ANC in Polokwane correctly stated that the ANC is the strategic centre of power and not the government. Judge Nicholson's judgement represented a tipping point.

We have congratulated the new President Kgalema Motlanthe and regretted that some of the former Minister chose loyalty to the individual over our people. We welcomed the appointment of the new-look cabinet and celebrated in particular the removal of the Ministers of Health and Justice from the posts.

What is the challenge moving forward? At the beginning of my address I referred to some aspects of the challenges we faced and what steps we took to address these challenges.

There are two central challenges I want to talk to at this stage. The first one is to launch a campaign to reverse and defeat some foreign traditions that were introduced into our movement in the period of divisions and in the run-up to Polokwane. The ANC and its Alliance formations, together with the rest of the democratic movement, must launch a campaign to go back to basics. The political campaign must have the following elements:

a) Defining the role of the masses of the people in this current epoch. This will include rebuilding the ANC branches, strengthening the Alliance, rebuilding the mass democratic movement. The proposal to set up street committees throughout the country poses the opportunity to re-galvanize our people, and ensure that our movement reconnects with its mass base.

b) Opening the democratic space by ensuring that the ANC branches, and MDM as a whole, take an interest in the national debates about the economy and other fronts of transformation.

c) Building a new culture of service, starting at the NEC, PECs and all other structures and deployed cadres work on the ground in a deliberate campaign to reconnect with the ground.

d) Reviving the political education desk and ensuring mass education including on the values of the ANC and the Alliance, its history and the role of the membership in this period.

e) Confronting the foreign cultures, including halting the use of the media for factional battles, abuse of state institutions, combating corruption and the rampant materialism and accumulation and restoring the respect for the judiciary, the constitution, and the rule of law.

f) Fighting to end the use of patronage that breeds sycophancy and kills internal democracy and organisational vibrancy.

g) Building a new culture where deployment is strictly on the basis of proven track record of efficiency, ability, and effectiveness of cadres and not on their membership of any faction or narrow loyalty to any leader.

h) Establishing processes to ensure accountability of deployees in government.

Secondly we must prepare to govern - and to govern more effectively, efficiently, and in a manner that seeks to address more than at any other time before, the crises of unemployment, poverty and inequalities. This means during this period until April/May 2009 the Alliance must embark on a laborious process to prepare to govern. Come May/June next year the ANC must hit the ground running. This means President Kgalema Motlanthe will continue to prepare and plan for a smooth handover from the government that was led by President Mbeki to the one to be led by President Jacob Zuma.

Overall dear comrades, ours must seek to unite the ANC and the Alliance around a new progressive platform that is informed by the decisions of Polokwane. This means we must play a more decisive role in the coming elections campaign. If we are correct, as we claim, that Polokwane was a decisive moment that, overall, shifted the ANC to the left and affirmed its historic bias towards the poor, then it goes without saying that those who stand to benefit most from the current changes must win elections for the ANC. In this regard COSATU must lead all other forces for a decisive ANC victory. That victory must be decisive!

I wish your congress success moving forward

Thank you again for inviting me

This is the text of the address by Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary, to the Provincial Congresses of SADTU and NUMSA Eastern Cape and SADTU Gauteng, September 27 2008