Cosatu has pledged to play the “big brother” role in talks to repair broken relations between the ANC and tripartite alliance partner the SACP.
On the sidelines of the ANC’s national general council (NGC) this week, a senior insider in the labour federation told the Sunday Times that the time had come for the labour federation to step up and mediate.
“This feud among our alliance partners has gone on for too long. It has gone extremely far, to the extent that a partner wants to contest elections alone. That is not the order of the alliance; it reflects how the relations between us have deteriorated.”
The source said Cosatu has no choice but to assume the “big brother role”.
“We have to be the bigger person, to play a mediation role where we call our partners and flesh out the grievances. We have to say, ‘Yes, kids, what do you want? How can we step in? How can we hear out both sides and find a solution together?’”
The insider said it was unfortunate that the SACP had chosen to contest elections independently of the ANC and that Cosatu did not agree with this decision.
“Inasmuch as we all had issues with the ANC and the inaction around the lacklustre approach to the long-standing issue of the reconfiguration of the alliance, we still don’t agree with this dramatic move. We might have been unhappy with the ANC’s conduct, but this tantrum won’t get us anywhere.”
Another close source said it was important for Cosatu to step up in this regard.
“People have been questioning Cosatu’s role, and it’s about time that we step up and play a meaningful role in this intervention. We need to always place the bigger picture of the future of the alliance at heart; these little squabbles are going to compromise the realisation of the national democratic revolution. We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted.”
These tensions are not new, but now they have reached a boiling point. It won’t be fair to want to elevate the decision of the Communist Party to contest as the only source of the alliance; it certainly is not.
— Mike Shingange, Cosatu’s first deputy president
Cosatu’s first deputy president, Mike Shingange, confirmed that they will be embarking on mediation efforts to secure the future of the alliance.
“We want to try and mediate,” he said. “As the current generation of leaders of the tripartite alliance, we are confronting difficult situations that are confronting society and our members. We want to say to them, ‘Is it possible for us to find a mechanism within which we can work and implement the decisions of both political parties without dividing the alliance?’ That is our role.”
While decrying how the ANC has been at the centre of the general unhappiness with the state of affairs in the alliance, Shingange said that Cosatu’s agenda is keeping the alliance together.
“We’ve had an issue with the refusal of the ANC to reconfigure the alliance, as well as the non-consultation patterns that the ANC and government are embarking on. These tensions are not new, but now they have reached a boiling point. It won’t be fair to want to elevate the decision of the Communist Party to contest as the only source of tension in the alliance; it certainly is not.
“Any tension in the alliance is not helpful. This is not a new thing. As Cosatu, we have always wanted the alliance to be more functional and be united. We have always called for the reconfiguration of the alliance. It was bound to happen that one of our partners in the form of the Communist Party would reach a stage of boiling point.”
However, Shingange said the SACP’s decision to head to the polls independently did not come as a surprise.
“We have always known that the SACP, together with the ANC, are both political parties in their own right; they have both always been registered with the IEC.
“In the transition towards democracy, a decision was taken to come together and work with the liberation movement.
“It was never hidden that there will come a point where the SACP will want to take the struggle forward towards a socialist South African society.
“Whether this is that time or not, the jury is still out. Whether the timing is correct can be debated. But that the party will someday contest elections, we have never doubted that that time will come.”
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