Johannesburg - Is the tripartite alliance holding under ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa? That is the question most people who saw it at its height are asking.
Last year, the Workers Day rally was held in Rustenburg, which is a stone’s throw away from the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, where the Marikana tragedy happened.
President Ramaphosa was forced to leave the event in an inyala after angry Sibanye-Stillwater workers disrupted the proceedings and refused to allow him to speak.
According to an Independent Media report, he was jeered by workers, and as it became heated, police and his bodyguards hurried him out of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
This Monday presented another worrying spectacle as SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila had a heated confrontation with Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union’s (Popcru) second deputy president, Amelia Monyatso.
Professor of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch, Amanda Gouws, told The Star that the alliance was at loggerheads because Cosatu) felt the government’s policies hurt its members who brought in votes for the ANC, but didn’t get any benefit out of it.
She said part of the problem was that unions also felt that the government did not consult them.
Gouws said regarding the SACP, the communist party wanted a reconfiguration of the alliance and to be included in the main decision-making structures.
“The SACP has threatened to break away and go it alone, but they won’t do it because a communist party won’t get many votes. Cosatu has also threatened to start its own party,” Gouws said.
Affirming what Gouws said was the SACP statement on May Day, where it called for a reconfiguration of the alliance.
“Entering into alliances or fronts with others should not compromise, but serve as part of the means to achieve the aims of the working class.
“Our effort to secure the reconfiguration of the alliance therefore aims to re-assert the aspirations of the working class,” read the statement.
Meanwhile, on the same day in Saulville, Tshwane, members of Cosatu unions disgruntled with the Massmart staged a protest just before ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile gave his keynote address.
Ndzalama Mathebula, an assistant lecturer at the Department of Politics and IR at the University of Joburg, said events like these not only signalled an alliance that had lost its mandate, but also exposed its leaders, who did not share the same voice as those they were advocating for.
She said there were numerous events within the alliance that signalled fragmentation and a regressive pattern towards their founding objective.
She says this mainly stemmed from ideological differences.
“Due to these differences, the alliance has lost its mandate and continues to fail to locate its relevance in contemporary South Africa.”
In establishing the alliance, these organisations had a common goal; however, due to changing needs, these commonalities became eroded, as did the founding mechanism of the alliance,“ said Mathebula.
Mathebula also said without a common goal, there were unclear and unfocused objectives, which hampered implementation.
The Star