The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has voiced its concern about the current spate of personal attacks within the African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions alliance.
”NUM is worried about the potential of reducing broad and genuine matters of policy debate to personal mudslinging,” general secretary Frans Baleni said in a statement.
This tendency hindered frank discussion among the alliance partners, resulting in ”posturing in the public gallery”.
”We consider robust and honest debate of policy difference[s] as a recipe for [a] genuine and collective solution-searching mechanism.
”Being dishonest about the challenges faced by the alliance is sheer complacency,” he said.
”The open flow of vicious words that have characterised, momentarily, relations in the alliance over the weekend should be channelled to the alliance secretariat with [the] intention to craft up a collective advancement of the National Democratic Revolution to resolve, among other things, leadership challenges in dealing with corruption, unemployment, poverty, HIV/Aids and the rising gap between the rich and the poor.”
The alliance had an enviable heritage of robust policy engagement reflecting its multi-class character.
”As NUM we know that the SACP and ANC have a rich legacy of robust and honest debates and we see no reason why this heritage should be whittled away in a democratic dispensation.
”We call upon the alliance secretariat to channel these energetic open spats and outburst towards empowering the working class as the leading motive force to lead the National Democratic Revolution.
”The alliance is the only compass of thoughts and no single whim of its components shall ever surpass this reality,” Baleni said. — Sapa