The release of a joint policy document on labour brokers by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Congress of the People (Cope) this week is the first step in a journey that could culminate in a merger, the DA predicted this week.
The party said it would give Cope until June next year to show its commitment to a possible coalition. Ian Ollis, MP and co-author of the policy document released this week, said the two parties are developing a joint economic policy which will help cement the relationship.
The parties are also working together on other policy initiatives, but because Cope has no elected leadership, the DA could not sign binding agreements with it.
‘By the middle of next year we want to know whether this is a genuine process. Cope needs to have an electoral conference so we know who the leader is,” said Ollis.
But while Ollis sees the joint policy document as the start of the ‘slow, steady march towards working together”, Cope spokesperson Philip Dexter warned against ‘too much being read” into this week’s event.
‘There is no timetable for working together; we’ll do it as the issues arise and where there is common ground,” he told the Mail & Guardian.
In the policy unveiled this week, the parties agreed that labour brokers should be allowed but regulated. Cope asked for the inclusion of a corporate social responsibility clause to ensure that labour brokers do their bit for job creation and that the profits of broking companies are examined annually to ensure that workers are not exploited.
The policy document came after heated discussion in the parliamentary portfolio committee, where ANC MPs equated labour brokers with slave owners. Cosatu’s national congress last week resolved that labour brokers should be banned.
The DA and Cope suggest a system of self-regulation where the labour broking industry sets up an inspectorate to ensure adherence to basic conditions of service. They argue that brokers play an essential role in organising jobs for seasonal workers.
Ollis was instructed by DA leader Helen Zille ‘to make sure Cope was included in the process to the full” while the policy document was being drafted.
Although the leadership of a coalition has not been discussed, DA sources said Zille would hand the reins to another leader if he or she could do the job.