Pretoria - The ANC is on tenterhooks, after scores of Cosatu affiliates voted in favour of the decision to divorce it and support the SACP in the upcoming 2024 national elections.
Tensions grew during the second day of Cosatu’s 14th national elective congress at the Gallagher Convention Centre yesterday, when its biggest affiliate, health sector union Nehawu supported a motion by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to dump the ANC in favour of the Communist party.
Popcru and Samwu also supported the motion while Sadtu – which has the second highest membership in Cosatu – modified their motion. Sadtu wanted a consultative conference of Left parties to be convened first before a decision to dump the ANC was taken. It also wanted to discuss the feasibility of supporting the SACP.
According to Sadtu, if the consultative conference agrees on that move, then it would be incumbent on the national leadership of Cosatu to convene a special conference in 2023 to make a final announcement.
There was, however, a strong feeling among delegates that the national congress must take a decision now so as to allow the SACP to canvass more funds and to prepare the formulation of its election manifesto.
Delegates also expressed concerns of being sick and tired of allegedly being used by the ANC as “voting cows”.
Cosatu’s president Zingiswa Losi – who on Monday made a failed bid to convince members to continue to support the ANC – appeared uneasy about the debate. But she was forced to allow angry workers to vote on the two motions.
At the time of going to press, delegates had started voting on the matter.
The unions who supported the motion to dump the ANC were emboldened by the address of SACP general secretary, Solly Mapaila, who called on them to “not be nice” on government officials who reneged on their bargaining agreements.
Mapaila politely endorsed the delegates’ decision to bar ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe from delivering his message of support.
Yesterday, Mantashe and his delegation returned to the conference but delegates were still resolute that they did not want to be addressed by any ANC official.
Adding to the party’s woes, Mapaila stoked the fires and declared his support for their actions to snub Mantashe.
In the presence of Mantashe and the ANC delegation, he said: “Workers must not be nice to the government if they reneged on their bargaining agreement. It is disrespectful to the workers and the revolution.
“They reneged on the agreement and the SACP would not be party to that. We respect your expression as workers.”
Earlier, he said they were consulted by former public service and administration minister Senzo Mchunu about the government’s decision to approach the court to defend its decision to renege on the 2018 wage agreement. Mapaila said they advised Mchunu not to approach the court but to find an amicable solution, but he insisted on it.
“We told Mchunu that if you go to court, we would lose the working class.
“I also had a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa and expressed the same sentiments. The president told me that he had yet to receive a report from Mchunu.
“What happened next, Mchunu was rewarded with a ministerial job in another ministry,” Mapaila said.
He also told delegates that the SACP congress had given them until the end of December to decide whether the party would contest elections on its own.
The SACP leader stressed, however, that the SACP was ready. “The question now is, is the working class ready?” he asked.
In a bid to appease the ANC leadership, Mapaila said there was an urgent need for the alliance’s political council to meet to discuss the wage issues as it had been severely affecting public servants for more than four years.
Despite his call, Mantashe was not impressed, saying Mapaila “has served the ANC with divorce papers in public”.
Mantashe was adamant that any decision by the SACP to contest elections with the support of Cosatu’s union “would split the ANC support base”.
“This means the ANC will have a small base and so will the SACP. This also means that the alliance is weak,” Mantashe said.
Pretoria News