Jaspreet Kindra
The stage has been set for a comrade-versus-comrade battle at least till the alliance summit, scheduled for late September.
For the first time in years the African National Congress publicly hammered its alliance partners, particularly the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). The ANC believes Cosatu has been infiltrated by ultra left-wing groups and Cosatu hit back, saying the ANC was “right wing”.
On Wednesday, the first day of the anti-privatisation strike, Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe said “the alliance has been challenged”.
But Peter Mokaba, a member of the ANC team drafting the party’s position for the summit, is more direct: “We no longer have a political alliance.”
Cosatu’s opposition to the ANC-led government policy on privatisation which is supported by the South African Communist Party has “sadly challenged the basis of the alliance”, says Mokaba.
Even the usually conciliatory ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe is believed to be unhappy with Cosatu and the SACP’s hard-line stance.
A senior labour source says that when former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher clamped down on unions in the late 1970s and privatised state assets, she did it on the strength of the prevalent anti-union sentiment. “But our government is suicidal it is taking on its own constituency.”
Mokaba believes the alliance is operating in a “hostile terrain” with “enemies” such as “Jubilee 2000 which has been infiltrated by Trotskyites who are enemies of the country. We have to save Cosatu.”
The SACP’s Mazibuko Jara dismisses Mokaba’s claims and says the alliance remains valid. The SACP put its weight behind Cosatu on the condition that their joint stance would challenge the government only on privatisation.
Mokaba says Cosatu’s role needs to be redefined by the alliance. “It cannot function as a political organisation the strike is political. Cosatu should behave and function as a trade union movement only.”
This sentiment was echoed by Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka last week: “This is a political strike it is not about wages or shop floor issues.”
Jara defends Cosatu and says it has to remain a political body.
Mokaba maintains that since the alliance is ANC-led it does not need to arrive at a consensus-based decision in response to its partners’ complaint of lack of consultation
“Radebe is a member of the SACP but he implements ANC policy, [Minister of Finance] Trevor Manuel was against the arms deal but he went along with the government decision,” he says.
It was Radebe and “labour-friendly” Minister of Transport Abdullah Omar who publicly defended the government’s privatisation policy this week. The Ministry of Transport is the only ministry that has an alliance committee looking into restructuring.
Mokaba challenges Cosatu’s claim that “white faces” are being replaced by privileged “black ones”.
He reiterates the ANC stance that it is building a black bourgeoisie: “We can’t wait for a patriotic bourgeoisie because we don’t have a bourgeoisie in the first place.”
“We will not be reduced to a minimalist state” has been the mantra repeated by the ANC during the past two weeks. The ANC maintains that the government will continue to address the problems of the poor.
So are they going to kiss and make up at the alliance summit? The partners are agreed on a case-by-case approach to restructuring as prescribed in the Reconstruction and Development Programme.
“The ideological commitment to bring in the private sector, with little or no attempt at in-depth analysis of the impact on development” is, according to Cosatu, the stumbling block.
The partners appear committed to finding common ground next month.
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi declined to comment and referred the Mail & Guardian to a press statement: “We expect that in future, even in such stressful times, alliance partners will hold to the traditions of the democratic movement … achieved through open and constructive debates about differences.”
l Meanwhile, the full-page advertisements in all leading newspapers against Cosatu’s strike cost R838 973,45, says government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe.