It’s been said that South Africa is a nation of activists, and while most of that activism has been to the good, the same cannot be said of the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s action this week against to protest against rising electricity and food prices.
South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande told protesters in Durban that the “capitalist class” had to accept the outcome of the African National Congress’s national conference in Polokwane.
“There is now a huge ideological offensive against working-class cadres and this new leadership of the ANC elected in Polokwane,” he said, adding that the leaders of the tripartite alliance, including ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, were “attacked” every time they spoke.
For his part, Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi demanded that President Thabo Mbeki and his Cabinet ministers “dismiss themselves” for ignoring Eskom’s warning in the late 1990s over impending power shortages.
It seems that the alliance partners have run out of ideas. Surely the stayaway in Durban, which has been estimated to have cost about R75-million, will not go any way to solving their concerns?
At Cape Town’s march, provincial Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said labour had been negotiating these issues with the government and business at Nedlac for some time, but with no result. “If there’s no solution, we will bring this country to a standstill,” he said.
Cosatu is out step with the times, if only for its unimaginative response to the challenges facing the country. It’s not as if South Africa is alone in this regard; food and fuel prices have skyrocketed around the world.
The movement also does not need such leaders as Sdumo Dlamini, who proclaimed with a distinctly Mugabean turn of phrase that Cosatu would “never apologise to the Human Rights Commission. They must just forget it and hang themselves.”
He was referring to comments made by Vavi last month in support of Malema, who said he was “prepared to kill for Jacob Zuma”.
So will it be business as usual, or will the alliance sit down and talk about the problems facing its constituencies? The poor cannot afford to be squeezed any longer, but are stayaways the answer?
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Marthinus van Schalkwyk
It needed to be said, and who better than our environmental minister? Following a Group of Eight summit statement this week on climate change — the US is still not agreeing to binding emissions targets — he commented: “While the statement may appear as a movement forward, we are concerned that it may, in effect, be a regression from what is required to make a meaningful contribution to meeting the challenges of climate change.” |
 Sdumo Dlamini
Regarding ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s “kill for Zuma” comments, the Cosatu president said this week: “We will never apologise to the Human Rights Commission. They must just forget it and hang themselves.” So much for respecting one of our country’s most important institutions … |
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