The African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), resumed bilateral talks on Monday after they were put on hold last week.
ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said talks were suspended on Friday after both organisations agreed to do so.
He denied reports that some top ANC members had snubbed the meeting — with Cosatu sending a delegation of about 30 members and the ANC represented by only five, including secretary general Gwede Mantashe.
The Sunday Independent reported that Cosatu was upset by this because it felt it was not being taken seriously.
“There is no such thing,” Mnisi said. “The ANC always wanted to meet with Cosatu … to discuss relations and pursue the programme of action outlined by our election manifesto.”
The ANC leadership called for an end to public spats in the alliance with the trade union federation and the South African Communist Party after verbal sparring between Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi and the ANC.
‘Crass materialism’
Last month Vavi cautioned there were plans to oust ANC president Jacob Zuma and Mantashe before their terms ended in 2012. He sounded a warning over what he termed “crass materialism” and “tender entrepreneurs”, which endangered the ruling party.
He repeated calls for lifestyle audits of public figures, including politicians not in government. This irked the ANC, which felt its members should not be targeted.
Vavi charged that materialists and tender entrepreneurs were behind a “small right-wing tendency” in the ANC which, although not supported by most of its leaders, appeared to be silencing them.
It had been reported that ANC Youth League president Julius Malema held directorships in companies that had benefited from state tenders.
Cosatu was also frustrated at Zuma’s State of the Nation address, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech and the approval of Eskom tariff increases.
The ANC in turn accused Vavi of “grandstanding” and said it felt Cosatu was “veering toward oppositional politics”.
The ANC’s leadership then met and called for an end to public disputes, the trading of insults and personal attacks.
An alliance summit scheduled to take place at the beginning of April was postponed for the bilateral talks between the ANC and Cosatu. — Sapa