PHUTI MOSOMANE
COSATU President Zingiswa Losi on Monday reiterated that the tripartite alliance should be the political centre and urged the African National Congress (ANC) to return to its leftist roots.
In recent months, the Federation has called for the reconfiguration of the alliance, arguing that a reconfigured alliance will allow all components to drive transformation as a political centre under the leadership of the ANC.
The South African Communist Party (SACP), another key ally of the ANC, has also argued that the reconfiguration of the alliance was cardinal and should make “neoliberal policy prescripts, including austerity, as well as State Capture and other forms of corruption, a thing of the past”.
Losi delivered a keynote address at the May Day rally in Bethlehem, Free State, along with ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa and SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila.
“We will insist that the ANC return to its roots as the force for the left and biased towards the working class,” said Losi.
She assured Ramaphosa, who was present at the federation’s May Day rally in Bethlehem, that “workers have not left the Alliance.”
“Workers have always insisted that their struggles be advanced in all fronts and have been clear that working class struggles must be wage on the political front, in the Alliance, at NEDLAC, in Parliament and in the streets. We will not surrender the state or the Alliance to ‘tenderpreneurs’ or the elite.”
Losi said the Federation will continue to support the call for the cleansing and the renewal of the ANC.
“The ANC needs to intensify the cleansing of its ranks,” she said, adding that Cosatu will remain firm in its support of the vanguard party, the SACP, and “the militant call for the building of socialism not in the future, but now”.
Speaking at the same event, Ramaphosa said the unity of the tripartite alliance is key in addressing the country’s challenges, and reiterated his party’s commitment to renewing the alliance. Ramaphosa said the ANC, COSATU) and the SACP should be dedicated to the unification of the Tripartite Alliance.
“Issues such as poverty, unemployment, and inequality are challenges that can be addressed if the alliance continues to work together and ensure the ideals set out are indeed achieved. We cannot achieve progress if we do not build a broader democratic movement. The alliance for itself must accelerate our work. Collectively we must work together to strengthen the alliance (SACP, Cosatu, and ANC),” said Ramaphosa.
Mapaila, on the other hand, called on the ANC to make the Alliance the centre of power.
“The Alliance must truly functioning as a political Centre of our shared strategy,” said Mapaila.
In a statement issued on Monday, the SACP said its efforts to secure the reconfiguration of the Alliance is aimed at re-asserting the aspirations of the working-class.
“There must be thoroughly democratic, consensus-seeking consultation on both policy and the selection of those who should be chosen to implement it in the state at all levels, with Alliance inclusivity a key criterion in both,” said the SACP.
“Instead of accountability only to one Alliance component, there must be accountability to the Alliance under the principle of collective leadership, with common discipline … The Alliance must truly function as a political centre of our shared strategy, the National Democratic Revolution, towards the attainment of all the goals of the Freedom Charter, and not least the economic goals.”
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