The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) stands by its assertion that the tripartite alliance is not functioning properly, despite the African National Congress’s claims to the contrary.
Cosatu issued a statement on Tuesday saying it is concerned about ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe’s remarks in last Friday’s ANC Today newsletter.
Motlanthe said Cosatu’s policy assessment paper released on December 1 is misleading about the functioning of the alliance.
”Cosatu stands by its view that the alliance has not functioned in the manner envisaged in the Cosatu national congress resolution.”
Cosatu said Motlanthe gave the impression that the alliance is functioning well by listing a number of meetings in which the alliance partners have participated.
But Cosatu said these meetings were not actually alliance meetings, but routine meetings involving representatives of the alliance partners.
”This is, however, irrelevant to the main issue, which is how the alliance itself, as a distinct organisation, is functioning.
”The critical problem is that the alliance has not been playing a political role and the very meetings which have failed to take place — 10-a-side meetings and the alliance summit — are precisely the ones that should be playing this role,” Cosatu said.
The state of the alliance between the ANC, the South African Communist Party and Cosatu hit the headlines last week, as Cosatu and the ANC publicly disagreed about black economic empowerment and the situation in Zimbabwe. — Sapa