SACP,+COSATU+warn+on+ANC+alliance,+Brown,+Musgrave,+B+Day

Business Day, Johannesburg, 30 March 2007
=SACP, Cosatu warn on ANC alliance=


 * Karima Brown and Amy Musgrave**

THE African National Congress’ (ANC’s) allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), have warned that “the status quo” in the tripartite alliance is no longer acceptable, saying their members want to radically alter the way the relationship operates.

Their hardening position comes ahead of a looming clash over economic policy and over the leadership of the ANC, both to be decided at key ANC conferences later this year.

The allies’ stance, which amounts to open rebellion, could redraw the political map of SA.

Signalling the harder line, SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande said “given our 13 years of experience of governance, the alliance needs to be significantly reconfigured. The days of collective alliance campaigning for elections, but decisions being left exclusively in the hands of the ANC, are now over”.

He was speaking at a news briefing at the conclusion of a two-day bilateral meeting at which the state of the SACP and Cosatu’s alliance with the ANC came under scrutiny.

The two organisations indicated their unhappiness with the direction proposed in the ANC’s draft policy documents released last week and said they would redraw SA’s political map ahead of the 2009 general election if they lost their battle for control of economic policy in the alliance.

“The summit agreed that we need to radically change the manner of operation of the alliance, its protocols, method of deployment and the question of accountability of government to the alliance.”

The summit also said the effective role of alliance partners in governance and the possibility of an electoral pact and quotas for alliance partners on ANC lists would need to be looked at.

“We will campaign for these changes while engaging the ANC on these matters.”

The allies said changes needed to happen in time for the 2009 elections. The battle for control of economic policy — which the ruling party’s allies say favours business and the rich — will come to a head in June at the ANC’s policy conference, where social and economic policy will be debated.

This will be followed by the ANC’s elective national conference in December where it is expected the left will back ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as party leader.

The alliance is set to suffer increased tensions ahead of the ANC’s conferences, with Cosatu and the SACP gunning for a radical break with the past on economic policy, supported by senior ruling party figures such as secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya.

Nzimande and Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi expressed reservations about the ANC’s policy documents, in particular its draft strategy and tactics which lay the basis for a multi-class approach to the ANC.

“It’s going to be a long winter,” Vavi said in response to an initial reading of the ANC’s documents, which argue that there is no need for any radical overhaul of economic policy.

The secretariat of the SACP and Cosatu were ordered to develop concrete proposals.


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A425452**

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