Cosatu on upcoming elections: ‘We are not abandoning the ANC yet’

It turns out the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will again not be living up to its threat to withdraw its support from the African National Congress (ANC), this time in the upcoming local government elections.

Cosatu, one-third of the tripartite alliance (ANC and the South African Communist Party), held a media briefing on Thursday, 8 April 2021, following its two-day special executive committee.

The trade federation had said on several occasions that it would potentially back out of the alliance, citing the party’s handling of corruption. However, Cosatu has decided against such a move and said it would first evaluate several matters.

“We are not abandoning the ANC yet because as part of the Alliance, we do not want to open a political vacuum that will see the organisation hijacked by the reactionary and criminal elements who have been attempting to capture it since the 1994 democratic breakthrough. The Central Committee will continue to assess the state of the Alliance and its reconfiguration, taking into consideration the offensive against the working class,” Cosatu said in a statement.

Just recently, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) threatened to not support the ANC during the upcoming local government elections, particularly due to the stalemate surrounding public sector wages.

Cosatu says there cannot be two ANCs

Cosatu’s general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali further bemoaned the level of factionalism that has plagued the ruling party, especially in recent days. He said the ANC cannot live in two worlds.

“We don’t understand how the ANC become two ANCs, the ANC in government and ANC in conference resolution. If you take a decision in a conference to implement this, we don’t understand why then government employees will do differently,” Ntshalintshali said.

“We said it must be the ANC that is instructing the government, not the government that now says to the ANC you were crazy taking these resolutions, it’s not implementable, which is in relation to the government policies for example. Within the ANC officials, some of them said no the decision that was taken to step aside which they were part of it they seem to say now, no it’s not implementable”

Cosatu’s general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali

Cosatu further expressed support for the step aside resolution and the 30 days given for members to temporarily vacate their posts in the party. However it further said they were not convinced it was enough time for the resolution to be implemented.