The African National Congress (ANC) leadership contest can make or break the tripartite alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday.
The warning comes in draft policy documents to be discussed at the trade-union federation’s central committee meeting, which takes place in Esselen Park next week.
The central committee is tasked with determining Cosatu’s new strategy based on the draft policy documents, which are titled: The ANC Leadership Challenge; Framework for an Alliance Governance and Elections Pact; and The National Democratic Revolution and Socialism.
The labour federation is concerned about the tripartite alliance — which comprises itself, the ANC and the South African Communist Party — particularly about the ANC role in the alliance and how the party is governed.
It sees the ANC conference at the end of the year and the leadership election as a time for change.
”We cannot allow emotions and a beauty-contest mentality to drive our thinking when we are presented with a historic opportunity to correct historic mistakes and wrongs and save our revolution,” the documents state.
But Cosatu also warns that the leadership election should not divide the movement.
”Before emotions take their toll on all of us and before we get trapped into pro-this and anti-that caucus, we must agree on the framework and criteria for electing leadership,” the documents state.
”Without doubt we know that leadership contests can either place an organisation on a higher growth path or lead to paralysis and disintegration. For that reason, as we approach the ANC conference, we need to exercise maximum caution not to destroy the movement due to narrow factionalist positions,” Cosatu warns.
While not mentioning any names, it is clear that the union federation is concerned with some of the current leadership.
”This multi-class alliance is now under threat as a few black leaders seek to use state power to advance their own class positions, rather than the interests of the majority,” it said.
It is also critical of the way the ANC functions.
”In the ANC, the representatives of the executive effectively form the most powerful faction, since only they have capacity to develop policy and to monitor implementation.”
Cosatu wants the ANC and the alliance to play a bigger role in the governance of the country.
”The alliance must form a centre to drive transformation and policy development. In this context we need to fight for a qualitative shift in the functioning of the alliance … The ANC ought to be empowered to drive policy rather than tailing behind the government,” it said.
Cosatu will next week decide on the names of candidates it will support during the ANC leadership election in December.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said while the trade-union federation had no right to nominate people for the leadership election, it wanted to guide its members who also belong to the ANC on who the right leadership would be.
”What we want to do is to say we’ll back these people if they are nominated by the ANC structures, we would be happy with these people if they are elected,” Vavi said
Issues of leadership
Meanwhile, statements by Umkhonto weSizwe veterans in the North West regarding ANC leadership were not the view of the body’s national structure, the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) said on Tuesday.
”At national level we’ve never pronounced on issues of leadership. Provinces are entitled to debate leadership but we can never say that it is a position of the MKMVA,” said the organisation’s treasurer, Dumisani Khoza.
The statement comes after MK veterans in the North West said they had nominated Jacob Zuma for the post of ANC president.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said nominations by the MKMVA currently had no standing in terms of the ANC’s constitution. The MKMVA also had no voting rights.
Motlanthe said the ANC’s national conference would consider whether or not to give MK veterans constitutional status, which would also give them voting rights.
He said the MK veterans still had a role to play in society by helping communities organise themselves in their efforts to fight poverty.
”They were trained militarily and politically and can bring about clarity of strategic thinking at local level.” — Sapa