ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has poured cold water on reports that the tripartite alliance is in danger.
|||Cape Town - ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has moved to quell fears that the tripartite alliance is in danger, saying there is “no visible threat” at this stage.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC Western Cape’s volunteer launch in Khayelitsha on Sunday, Mantashe said plans by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) to dump Cosatu and the ruling party were “not an issue”.
This was because the ANC was in alliance with Cosatu, not Numsa.
Mantashe’s statement came in the wake of Numsa’s revolt - less than six months before the elections next year - over the suspension of Cosatu’s embattled general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.
The Cape Times’s sister paper, The Sunday Independent, reported on Sunday that Numsa discussion documents ahead of next month’s special national congress had proposed a breakaway from Cosatu and the formation of a civic movement or a new political party to the left of the ANC.
Numsa, which has about 320 000 members, has already withheld its R8 million budgeted for the ANC’s election campaign due to its unhappiness about Vavi’s suspension.
But Mantashe said on Sunday one “should not put the cart before the horse” and Numsa’s proposed breakaway was at this stage just a recommendation to its national congress next month, not a resolution.
He said Numsa’s plan was not an indication of Cosatu’s loyalty to the alliance comprising the ANC, SACP, Cosatu and the South African National Civic Organisation.
“There’s no issue around Cosatu. The ANC is in an alliance with Cosatu, Numsa is an affiliate. The dynamics will be dealt with as such… in that, there are issues in the federation and we will help them resolve it… at this point, there is no visible threat to the alliance,” said Mantashe.
“One thing I try not to do is to pretend to be a prophet... We can’t put the cart before the horse.”
However, Mantashe expressed a concern over the problems facing Cosatu, which seems poised for a split.
“The federation must be strong. We can’t be happy. What’s bad for Cosatu is bad for the alliance,” he said.
Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini said Numsa had not yet taken a final decision about dumping Cosatu and the ANC, and he was confident that the union would remain in the labour federation.
Four of Numsa’s regions - the equivalent of provinces - have insisted that the union should dump Cosatu or force it to leave the tripartite alliance.
Numsa leaders in Kwazulu-Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape said the alliance was being led by “neo-liberals” who had “sold out” on the Freedom Charter and the struggle for the working class.
The leaders include Numsa Western Cape regional leader Vuyo Lufele and his KwaZulu-Natal counter-part Mbuso Ngubane.
The others spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared victimisation.
They have labelled Cosatu’s decision to investigate Numsa a strategy by President Jacob Zuma’s supporters, led by Dlamini, to neutralise Numsa and prevent it from taking part in the federation’s special congress next year.
They said the probe was also a move by Zuma’s sympathisers to stop Numsa from using the special congress to reinstate Vavi, remove his nemesis and change Cosatu’s ideological trajectory.
Cosatu’s central executive committee is probing Numsa for allegedly defying the federation’s call to participate in its failed national strike against e-tolls and labour brokers, among other things, in line with congress resolutions.
Cape Times