The national convention failed to answer questions and concerns of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Cosatu said in a statement on Saturday.
”We have noted the speech by Terror Lekota at the South African National Convention in Sandton today [Saturday] and regret that it failed to answer any of the questions and concerns we expressed.”
Cosatu published a statement with questions and concerns for the splinter group on Thursday.
Cosatu had said the convention’s aim was to divide and disrupt the African National Congress and its allies.
It was also aimed at providing a launching pad to reinstate the discredited agenda, which was defeated democratically at the ANC’s Polokwane conference.
”They know they cannot defeat the ANC in a straight fight but aim to confuse voters with false, demagogic promises in the hope of cutting its majority and preventing the implementation of the many progressive resolutions passed at Polokwane.”
Describing the spearheads of the convention as ”born-again democrats aiming at forming a black DA”, Cosatu said the convention would fail as it insulted the intelligence of South Africans and was in contempt of democracy.
”We are convinced that they will fail in this attempt and we will do all in our power to expose their agenda to the country as a whole.”
Cosatu questioned how the ”black DA” was going to be different from the ANC and if those leading the party expected people to trust their ideals as they had previously shunned the poor while in the ranks of the ruling party.
”For the minority of delegates who may be attending this jamboree mistakenly believing that it is a genuine political movement with serious policies, we suggest that you pose and ask yourselves what they have done, during their term of office, to fight corruption and cronyism.”
The ”black DA” was hypocritical in that while it claimed to be fighting against undemocratic organisational practices, it had refused to accept the democratic process at the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane.
On Saturday, Cosatu reaffirmed and justified its strong belief that the ANC remained the only political movement that can defend and advance the interests of the workers and the poor.
Meanwhile, ANC president Jacob Zuma has described those leaving the ANC to form a new political party as a poisonous mix, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday.
Speaking during a door-to-door campaign in Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal, he said he always thought he was with comrades, but he could now see that he was with poisonous snakes.
Newcastle is one of the areas that is hotly contested by the Inkatha Freedom Party and the ANC.
He urged residents in the area to register next week in order to vote.
Zuma is expected to end his two-day visit in the province with an address at the Osizweni Stadium. — Sapa