Trade union federation Cosatu has called on its members to ‘recapture†the ANC, echoing the South African Communist Party’s call last weekend for a major transformation and renewal of the ruling party.
Cosatu’s statement, after a central executive committee meeting this week, signals an open campaign by the two ANC allies this year to shape the outcome of the ANC conference in December.
The ANC rebuked the SACP for its statement last week, saying no other organisation should speak on the ANC’s behalf.
Cosatu said on Thursday that there was a ‘hegemonic conservative bloc†in the ANC which had tried to move the movement to the centre left.
But the political environment was not static and was subject to ‘intense contestationâ€. ‘Therefore, the principal task of the working class is to recapture the ANC as a progressive and radical liberation movement.â€
Cosatu noted that, while government economic policies appeared to be drifting leftwards, it was worried that Harvard University economists and the President’s Investment Council were managing the shift, rather than the alliance and the ANC.
‘Is this a cynical move to occupy a left position that has been occupied by Cosatu during this year of the ANC conference or is this a genuine shift to the left?†it asked.
It said the political choices facing the alliance had to be confronted, even if they were uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, ANC national executive committee member and close Thabo Mbeki ally Joel Netshitenzhe has warned the ANC Youth League that, although it is an autonomous structure, it cannot openly defy the ANC.
Netshitenzhe was referring to the youth league’s decision to ignore a ruling party instruction to reinstate its disbanded Eastern Cape structure. He was addressing delegates at the league’s national executive committee meeting last weekend.
When the league’s Eastern Cape provincial executive committee was disbanded late last year, members claimed this was because it had deviated from the league’s national position on the ANC’s presidential succession race.
The league’s national leaders have vocally backed ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, while its Eastern Cape executive wants Mbeki to serve a third term as ANC president.
The league has insisted that the provincial executive was not disbanded because of the succession issue, but to safeguard it from collapse. It rejected an ANC national working committee proposal that the executive remain intact until the next provincial conference in May.
Netshitenzhe reportedly told delegates that the league’s position on the Eastern Cape had embarrassed the ANC, and that, although it was autonomous, it could not defy the parent body. ‘He said the youth league constitution and policies derived from the ANC, therefore it cannot be seen to be contradicting the ANC,†said a league source.
Netshitenzhe refused to comment this week.