The ANC has come under fire from its alliance partners South African Communist Party and the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) who both accused the party of arrogance and of betraying the struggle against apartheid by contemplating a co-governing deal with the DA which the alliance partners view as “the enemy”.
Leaders for the two organisations delivered hard hitting speeches at the policy conference of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and affiliate of Cosatu organising in the mining sector and the union President Cyril Ramaphosa who is now at the centre of the alleged selling out if not the face of it, is credited with having formed in 1982. Both alliance partners are adamant that the ANC could simply form a minority government with smaller parties. SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila said the ANC NEC’s preference of a government of national unity complicates what he argued was a simple matter.
“Why complicate it? You complicate the issue when you say government of national unity. The ANC could simply form a minority government supported by smaller parties. You can invite one or two more if you want to be inclusive,” said Mapaila who also rejected any involvement of Mk party accusing its leader former President Jacob Zuma of being “ counter revolutionary” by destructing the ANC in the elections.
Mapaila said newly formed centre right parties were funded by the controversial Oppenheimer family all DA offshoots, are counter revolutionary and were now about to be handed state power on a silver platter by an ANC which he suggested was arrogant towards the alliance and its constituencies in general. Even the 17% loss of support the ANC recorded in the elections, said Mapaila, should be placed squarely on the doorstep of big business which he alleged rendered the ANC government unpopular by among others, carrying out reckless retrenchments while also using the media to help what has come to be known as the ‘ Oppenheimer parties’ ( DA, IFP, Action SA, Rise Mzansi, FF+) and some NGOs to turn the people against the liberation movement.
“The problem facing South Africa is not to lose elections. Losing elections is a problem for the liberation forces. The problem that we must deal with is the consolidation and the arrogance of capital and its proxies both domestically and internationally are in political parties that have now demonstrated themselves to be against the people and the progress that we are making as a country. In simple terms the challenge we have is to confront counter revolution in this country. Counter revolution has fully arrived. We don’t need any other evidence of counter revolution than the parties that enjoyed support, financial support as well as media support from international organisations that,” said Mapaila at pains to make a point that a deal with the DA would be suicidal for the ANC.
Mike Shingange, the First Deputy President of Cosatu said throughout its three decade rule the ANC prioritised “the markets” at the expense of the poor alienating itself from the masses in process, a practice he said the libration movement needed to now break loose from.
“We have always bent over backwards to accommodate business, we’ve always accommodated investor interests, we’ve always accommodated the rating agencies. They always demanded a conducive environment to do business. By conducive environment they meant weakening the labour law, stripping workers of the protection of labour rights. It meant that we must casualise workers, it meant that we must retrench workers, it meant that we must refuse the minimum wage. Even though we have done so they continued to retrench, we still losing power bit by bit so it is high time we act in the interest of the majority previously disadvantaged in this country, said Shingange.
Shingange said the DA had shown disdain towards the working class and in particular black people and should not be considered for any role in the new government.
“When we were campaigning they were clear about where they stand with us. Just a day after we celebrated workers day the DA marched on our headquarters ( Braamfontein, Johannesburg)alleging that we drove up unemployment through the minimum wage. They want to reverse every gains we made in this country and we cannot afford that, “said Shingange almost daring the ANC to partner with the DA at its own peril.
Before Mapaila and Shingange spoke, the ANC had used the same platform to allay fears that it may be dominated and ultimately turned against its own by the DA. National Executive Committee member Buti Manamela who also happened to be the last influential National Secretary of the Young Communist League represented the ANC and told the alliance partners that the party was not oblivious to the DA’s hostility towards them and would consider their views when deciding whether to work with the DA.