COSATU+Pre-Congress+discussions



=COSATU Pre-Congress discussions=

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted the articles, notably in the City Press on 6 August and the Mail & Guardian on 11 August, speculating on the political discussions and leadership elections which will take place at the COSATU Ninth National Congress on 18-21 September 2006.

COSATU welcomes a free and democratic debate around these issues, as the members evaluate the progress we have made since the Eighth Congress in implementing the 2015 Plan, chart the way forward for the next three year and choose the leadership who will take the federation forward until 2009.

The political discussion will be centred around the COSATU Discussion Paper, the resolutions from affiliates and the Secretariat Report, which is to be sent to the affiliates at the end of this week. We also welcome the publication by some affiliated unions of their own discussion papers and encourage others to do so, in the interests of a wide-ranging and vigorous debate.

COSATU wishes to insist however that it will be the members of the unions, and not the media and its faceless ‘sources’ who will decide on the new political programme and who will lead the federation for the next three years. We demand that the media give fair and balanced coverage of the debates and do not try to created sensational stories based on unreliable information from anonymous ‘sources’.


 * Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)**
 * Congress of South African Trade Unions**
 * 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets**
 * Braamfontein, 2017**


 * P.O.Box 1019**
 * Johannesburg, 2000**
 * SOUTH AFRICA**


 * Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24**
 * Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667**
 * Cell: 0828217456**
 * E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**

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