COSATU has urged its key alliance partner, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), to retain the contentious step-aside rule or face the prospect of losing the upcoming 2024 national general elections.
This is the message contained in the labour federation’s political overview ahead of its national elective congress to be held at the Gallagher Convention Centre on September 26-29.
“The resolution should be retained at Congress, including enshrined in the ANC’s Constitution,” said COSATU in it report.
“Scrapping it [step-aside rule] will send a damning message to workers that we are tolerant of corruption and criminality. This would come back to haunt us in the 2024 elections.”
The labour federation says it is aware that “the Nasrec Resolution requiring leaders and public representatives of the ANC to step aside once they have been charged for a criminal offence will be a source of major constestation at the National Congress in December.”
COSATU said while there was some attempts to scuttle the step-aside rule at the recent ANC national policy conference, the overwhelming majority of provinces called for “its retention, strengthening and uniform implementation.”
“Only one province called for it to be scrapped, whilst the majority called for it to be retained and strengthened. However for it to be sustained then the judicial processes must be accelerated and not subject to endless delays,” says COSATU.
“The rights of those few individuals accused of serious crimes cannot outweigh the anger of society and workers who have seen the state be run into the ground, workers sent home unpaid and retrenched, SOEs collapse because some leaders have chosen to engage in industrial corruption.”
With the opening of nominations ahead of the ANC’s 55th elective conference in December, internal rifts over unresolved issues such as the step-aside rule are expected to deepen visions in the governing party.
Branches aligned to the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction insist that they are going to nominate, among others, suspended Secretary General, Ace Magashule, for the party’s top leadership positions.
This while the latest election guidelines prohibits those facing corruption charges from contesting for any leadership positions.
The RET faction argues that if leaders such as Magashule are prohibited from contesting any position at the conference, the same fate must befall President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is facing daming allegations following the Phala Phala game farm scandal.
ANC provinces in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo have also raised concerns about the selective application of the rule, saying it has been used to sideline Ramaphosa’s opponents in the party.
Both provinces say that even if they were defeated on the step-aside issue at the recent national policy conference, they are likely to win the matter at the congress in December.
The ANC in KZN and Limpopo want the policy to be scrapped.
The resolution was first adopted in 2017 and dictated that members in elected positions, who face criminal charges, should step aside.
Branch members were expected to start the nomination process for NEC members on September 7, but the process has since be postponed.
The current Top Six officials consists of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President David Mabuza, chairperson Gwede Mantashe, Treasurer Paul Mashatile, and suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Jessie Duarte, who passed away in July, was the deputy secretary-general.
The labour federation added that it was concerned that for the first time since 1994, the ANC received less than 50% of the vote in the 2021 local elections.
It said a significant challenge here was public servants’ anger over the state’s reneging on the 2020 leg of the 2018 public service wage agreement.
“If the ANC is to win and retain power in the 2024 elections, nationally and provincially, then it needs to decisively deal with corruption, rebuild the state, end load shedding, fix embattled SOEs, spur the economy and reduce unemployment.”
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