The Congress of South African Trade Unions has sent the following letter to the Secretary General of the African National Congress:

08 January 2012

Comrade Gwede Mantashe

Secretary General

African National Congress

Luthuli House

Marshalltown

By email

Dear Comrade Gwede Mantashe

COSATU wishes ANC 101 more years of existence

As we mark the historic 101 years of the existence of the oldest liberation movement in the African continent, the leadership of the federation, COSATU, on behalf of its members in the farms, mines, factories, shops, and all workplaces across the length and breadth of our beloved South Africa, extend its hand of friendship, comradeship and solidarity to the leadership and membership of the African National Congress.

We wish the ANC the happiest anniversary and another 101 years of existence. Today, after the yearlong centenary celebrations and the historic 53rd national conference, which also took place in the centenary year, is one of the most significant celebrations in the history of the ANC.

The ANC has for 101 years led our people and inspired millions more across the continent and the globe to fight for freedom and democracy. Guided by your primary principle of selflessness you have been one of the finest examples of progressive liberation movement.

It is not by sheer luck that the ANC has survived over 100 years. It is where it is today because it has been at the forefront of the struggles to emancipate the poor. The ANC has been a fearless fighter against poverty and exploitation. It has been a voice for the voiceless. It has stood shoulder to shoulder with exploited workers. The ANC must continue doing that.

The ANC has been the most powerful symbol of resistance and its leaders whom we celebrate today have been shining examples of profound leadership and sacrifice.

Today we recall not only the contributions of leaders such as Langalibalele Dube, Chief Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and others, but more so we remember the millions of the unsung heroes and heroines without whom the 1994 breakthrough would still be only a dream.

We remember the unparallel contributions of not only the toiling masses who constituted the membership but those brave sons and daughters who swelled the ranks of Umkhonto Wesizwe and defied death to confront the most powerful and brutal regime in the African continent.

We also salute the forebears of the ANC who defied the tribal, language and other narrow differences, and came together to form the ANC on this historic day, and also those who fought heroic battles against tyrants who dispossessed them of their land before the ANC was formed. We salute our Kings and Chiefs who were in the forefront of the wars of dispossession. Today we sadly mark the centenary of the Native Land Act, which legalised theft of the land by an invading foreign army that occupied our country by force. No stone must be left unturned to reverse this ugly page in our history.

We salute the youth - ovukayibambe - from the generation of Anton Lambede, OR Tambo, and Nelson Mandela to the 1976 generation who inspired the generations of the 1980s and 1990s to occupy the front rows and engaged in titanic battles with the apartheid regime's army and police in the streets of our townships and villages.

We also salute the role played by our mothers, who at the darkest hours of our history defiantly told the regime that - ‘wathinta abafazi wathinti mbokodo' - mobilised husbands and children to also join the struggle for dignity and human rights. These brave women led countless marches, often serving as an inspiration to the masses as whole to fight not only against national oppression but also against women's exploitation.

We salute the religious leaders, the civic formations of many generations and other organs of people's power who, through issue-based struggles, mobilised millions of our people for justice, decent houses, education, infrastructure, etc. We celebrate the strides we have made under the ANC government to meet the demands of our people for clean running water, sanitation, houses, electricity, etc. We are fully aware that we must still do so much more to realise our dream for a better life for all.

We salute the peoples of Africa and those who formed part of the anti-apartheid movements all over the world for their steadfast and unwavering support of our right to self-determination. The only way we can pay back this international solidarity, is to join hands with our African brothers and sisters as well as with all progressive formations in the world to build a better and peaceful African continent and a new world.

We salute the workers and the working class as a whole who have always been the backbone of the struggle for liberation. We are particularly pleased to note that workers have always played a leading role and provided the finest leaders to the ANC.

The workers have been the backbone of all the defiance campaigns. It is the working class that swelled the ranks of the glorious people's army. It is no accident that the very first MK soldier to be hanged by the regime was Vuyisile Mini, an outstanding unionist. It is no accident that the first person to die in detention was Looksmart Ngudle, a unionist.

It is not by accident that the majority of those arrested in Rivonia were outstanding working class activists in the form of Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Wilton Mkwayi, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi, etc.

The history of the workers' struggles and those of the ANC are not separable. The struggle against national oppression, exploitation and women's triple oppression and exploitation is one struggle. It is a struggle to build a democratic, united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.

Our country will never succeed in building a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa however, if the wealth of our country still remains in the hands of a few. We will never realise this if we continue to allow the wealth created by our minerals to be taken out of our country to develop economies in Europe, America and Asia.

This celebration takes place on the eve of two other milestones - the 20th anniversary of democracy and the fifth national and provincial elections in 2014. The timing of the last conference could therefore not been better to help not only the ANC but also the congress movement as a whole prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

COSATU commits itself to work with the new leadership of the ANC and all its members to confront the remaining challenges. In particular we seek to ensure that the resolution on the second phase of our transition for radical economic transformation is taken forward without any further delay. Our struggles for transformation must ensure that our freedom is in total - economic as well as political. In this context the unity of the ANC and the unity between the ANC and the alliance, as well as with all democratic forces, is critical. So is the need to continue to attack what are known as the sins of incumbency, so that our broad movement inspires all our people and continues to be home of all progressives in our country.

This week sees the beginning of the strike by farm workers, who are demanding a better salary than the pittance of R80 a day that they are earning. Throughout this year we shall see more militant workers' struggles, as part of our own efforts to fight against poverty and inequalities and for policies that address the underlying causes of the triple crisis of poverty, unemployment and inequalities!

We hope the ANC will provide concrete support to all of these struggles, which will take us to the trenches in consistent struggles against poverty, unemployment and inequality.

We hope that the ANC will mobilise the majority of South Africans to realise all the objectives it set for itself in its national conferences, in particular for total economic emancipation. Power concedes nothing without a struggle!

The next 101 years of the ANC must be characterized by heightened mass action for the total emancipation of Black people in general and Africans in particular from economic bondage. The ANC - the real congress of the people - remains a home for all of these different segments and regiments of the people's army for an egalitarian society.

Happy birthday to our movement and May you have more happy returns!

Long Live Nelson Mandela Long Live the memory of Chris Hani and Joe Slovo

Amandla!

Yours comradely

Zwelinzima Vavi

General Secretary

Issued by COSATU, January 10 2013

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