ANC squabbles are all about control of the gravy train - Saftu

Trade union federation Saftu has slammed the warring ANC factions, saying none of them would save the governing party from its continued demise.

Instead, the South African Federation of Trade Unions concluded after the ordinary meeting of its national executive committee (NEC) that both ANC factions would die.

According to Saftu, the internal scuffles within the ANC over the soul of the oldest liberation movement in Africa were not about ideological differences but rather control over the gravy train.

For this reason, Saftu said, the ANC leadership was out of touch with the socio-economic crisis in which the country finds itself.

Saftu further denounced what it termed "the disjointed left" in the country, saying this was the reason voters continued endorsing the ANC, despite its failures and rising poverty and unemployment.

In a statement on Monday, Saftu said: "The NEC of Saftu noted this [ANC] is in an irreversible decline and no faction inside it is capable of stopping the decline.

"The ruling party is more divided than even before its Nasrec conference, with factions involved in a fight to the death of both factions.

"The ANC factional fights are not based on political and ideological difference, but the push to get closer to the feeding trough. It is this obsession with internal battles that has defocused the leadership of the ruling party from the crisis facing the country."

The trade union federation blamed the ANC's "pro-big business policies" for rising unemployment, cautioning that things were bound to head further south.

The Saftu NEC believes a pointed intervention in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector by government would bring about relief in unemployment and stimulate sluggish economic growth.

"Government has the power to change the fate of SMEs by channeling investors' spending to favour institutions that have devoted the necessary resources towards the growth of SMEs agenda," Saftu said.

"The government also has the power to impose penalties on institutions that are on an investment strike through additional taxes on funds that are invested in cash instruments, and channeling more than 30% from the R800bn public procurement spend directly to SMEs."

The federation reflected on the 4th industrial revolution, saying it was a joke as long as South Africa continued to allow broadband providers to impose high data costs on consumers.

"Broadband providers need to reduce the cost of data immediately. If not, their licenses to operate in South Africa need to be reconsidered."

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