The African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners will establish a full-time political school in Gauteng to develop and train their members, the ANC said on Monday.
The announcement follows a Gauteng tripartite alliance summit that took place on the weekend.
The alliance, consisting of the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said the institution will be up and running by January 2009.
”We agreed that there is a need to develop a comprehensive strategy that will assist us in deploying our cadres in all key areas in which the transformation agenda is being pursued,” ANC provincial secretary David Makhura told reporters in Johannesburg.
He said the alliance will treat this with ”serious care”.
In addition, the alliance has made a common commitment to increasing the ANC’s majority in Gauteng during the 2009 general elections.
It will embark on an identity-document registration campaign, urging people to vote in the election.
”We are not worried about losing elections. We are very certain as an alliance in achieving an overwhelming victory for the ANC,” said Makhura, adding that the alliance is more concerned about the low turnout of voters over the years.
He said all the affected areas are known and the question is: ”How do we get supporters to vote?”
Cosatu, which held protests in the Free State, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga last week, is planning more mass action in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West on Wednesday, leading up to a national stayaway on August 6.
The ANC will join Cosatu in its countrywide protests against rising fuel and energy prices.
”The march is one of the things that needs to be done. The ANC takes up issues affecting people.”
On rocketing prices, Makhura said: ”We must arrest this process.”
He said the alliance will work with communities to address rising fuel prices. As part of the programme, land will be identified to enhance food security and agricultural production in the province.
The weekend summit also discussed the effects of the recent xenophobic attacks. Victims of xenophobia were urged to register so that they could be accorded legal status.
The Department of Home Affairs said on Monday that the process of issuing temporary identification cards to people displaced by the attacks is ongoing.
Many people have refused to register with the department, forcing the government to issue a deadline for Monday. Those who do not comply risk being deported, the department said. — Sapa