No+one+can+stop+the+working+class,+Norman+Mokoena,+COSATU




 * COSATU Mpumalanga media statement, 27 November 2007**

=No one can stop the working class on the march!=


 * Norman Mokoena, COSATU Mpumalanga Provincial Secretary**

//Central Committee decisions are not rhetoric//

In his last campaigning speech when opening the Mpumalanga Provincial General Council held on 23rd November 2007 at the FET College in Watervalboven, Premier Thabang Makwetla, Provincial Chairperson of the ANC, took a swipe at COSATU and the SACP. He referred to the COSATU Central Committee decision on the ANC leadership to emerge in Limpopo as rhetoric, and quoted the speech President Thabo Mbeki's delivered at the National Policy Conference in June to come to conclusion that we are probably interfering in the domestic affair of the ANC. This conclusion we reject with contempt it deserves.

On the 17 – 20 September 2007 at its Central Committee COSATU identified and recommended to its members who are in ANC structures the following candidates for the ANC NEC top six positions.


 * **Jacob Zuma** || - || **President** ||
 * **Kgalema Montlhanthe** || - || **Deputy President** ||
 * **Gwede Mantashe** || - || **Secretary General** ||
 * **Baleka Mbethe** || - || **Deputy Secretary General** ||
 * **Mathew Phosa** || - || **Treasurer General** ||
 * **Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma** || - || **National Chairperson** ||

COSATU believes that the leadership who should lead the ANC after the Limpopo conference should be guided by the following principles.


 * Demonstrate commitment to a radical National Democratic Revolution and thoroughgoing transformation of society.
 * Have a commitment to the Alliance and asserting the hegemonic position of the working class as a primary motive force.
 * Demonstrate commitment to the unity of the ANC, the Alliance and the democratic movement.
 * Demonstrate commitment to making this decade a decade of the workers and the poor and galvanise forces of the liberation
 * Have an anti-imperialism and internationalist character.
 * Have a struggle record and are politically experienced.

Since the Central Committee meeting COSATU cadres have done their spade work by attending the Branch General meetings, Regional General Councils, Provincial General Council etc.

Internally, COSATU convened extraordinary meetings in workplaces across the length and breath of the Province, culminating into our own Provincial Shop Stewards Council, similar to ANC PGC, to engage our members, who in turn engaged the communities, Alliance and structures of the mass democratic movement. The result of our work is clear for everyone to see because comrade Jacob Zuma obtained 263 votes to only 37 for cde Thabo Mbeki. To this end we are not apologetic about the mass work we have done and will continue to do until the fat lady sings in Limpopo.

The Alliance nationally and in the province need leaders who will work for unity of the ANC and the Alliance. What Thabang has demonstrated is that he does not have respect for other Alliance partners. The unity of the ANC and the Alliance is not part of his vocabulary and daily political work. On various occasion he has shown sectarian tendencies, including at the recent ANC PGC. His tenure is characterised by sidelining and marginalisation of the Alliance. There is no difference between him and Terror Lekota and the Big Chief himself.

For the record, COSATU has not interfered with ANC processes; on the contrary we are disciplined cadres of the movement. If this “interfering” business seeks to demobilse communists and socialists alike, we refuse to be blackmailed, simply because everybody in the country and the world have opinions about the ANC because it is a ruling party in government, and there is nothing wrong about the working class having strong opinions about their interest in the movement.

The revolution may not be safe in the hands of those who argue that the working class should not assert its hegemony in the movement.

We want to take this opportunity to thank the delegates of the ANC, who attended Mpumalanga PGC, who send a clear signal to representatives of monopoly capital that “sibadlile eMpumalanga”.

We call on self respective cadres of the movement not to be complacent by the overwhelming victory over the last weekend, but that we must always be vigilant until Limpopo – Remember its not over until its over.


 * Issued by Norman Mokoena, COSATU Mpumalanga Provincial Secretary, 082 803 6712**

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