Union+regions+debate+future+of+ANC+alliance,+Da+Costa,+Sindy

Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, July 02, 2006 //Edition 1//
=Union regions debate future of ANC alliance=


 * Wendy Jasson da Costa**

Discussions by Cosatu affiliates regarding the trade union federation's controversial five-option plan on the future of the alliance are in full swing around the country.

On Friday, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, which has about 216 000 members, started discussing the document titled "Possibilities for fundamental change", which was released ahead of the Cosatu congress in September. The discussion document is significant because it sets out five scenarios on the future of the alliance.

Silumko Nondwangu, the Numsa general secretary, said discussions in their regions would continue until Tuesday when the union's central committee would meet for four days to take matters further. Nondwangu said at this stage it was difficult to tell if there were "divergent or convergent views".

Recommendations from the Numsa central committee meeting would be taken back to its members before the Cosatu congress. Since the release of the document Cosatu's leadership has made it clear that no final decision is likely to be taken at the congress and that it was largely in favour of strengthening its ability to influence the ANC from within the alliance.

Willy Madisha, the Cosatu president, this week stressed that the document had been released for "discussion purposes" and was not a "position" of the union federation. He said it was also not the first time that such a document had been released as Cosatu had presented something similar in the 1990s.

"This paper must be discussed until the day we go into congress," said Madisha, also the president of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), which boasts a membership of 140 000. He said his position in Sadtu would not influence the union's decision on the discussion document. "I 'm not going there to influence any position…" Madisha said he was "a nobody" and that it was all about "worker control", and they would take the workers' mandate to the Cosatu congress.

The five options in the discussion document are:


 * Leaving the alliance and calling on the third partner, the SA Communist Party to contest political power or launch a working-class party. In this scenario, Cosatu would work with others to challenge the ANC in power.
 * The alliance disintegrating in the absence of a clear direction, with the ANC pushing a business agenda and Cosatu and the SACP splitting "along ideological lines and loyalty to personalities in the ANC".
 * ontinuing the tripartite alliance and Cosatu members being used as election campaigners for the ANC.
 * Signing an enforceable pact within the alliance partners on how the alliance should operate. As in north European examples, workers would be shown the ANC's manifesto and if the ruling party did not deliver on election promises, they would support another party.
 * Cosatu members work to influence the ANC from within the alliance and redirect it as a ruling party sympathetic to workers.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union welcomed the release of the Cosatu document, saying its analysis of the political situation in the country and beyond was consistent with the Ten Year Review Report prepared by Cosatu last year.

Tebello Mokoena, the union's spokesperson, said: "Nehawu's current political position is the one that calls for the strengthening of the alliance. As part of our preparations for Cosatu's 9th national congress, we will interact with the document and develop a response informed by this official position that was adopted by our 7th national congress in June 2004."

He said the release of the document followed initial discussions in Cosatu's central executive committee a few months ago. Nehawu has a membership of at least 190 000. By far the biggest Cosatu affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has a membership of just under 300 000.

Frans Baleni, the NUM general secretary, said although the union had set up forums for discussion, it was still too early to tell which way the debate would go. However, he made it clear that there was "no question about the commitment to the alliance".

Baleni said some of the issues raised were about how the alliance related to government, its level of influence and that the communication channels should be improved. As an example, he said when the ANC organised a major event they never invited a member of the alliance to be their keynote speaker. By contrast, ANC members were frequently invited to do so by their alliance partners.

The general secretary of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), Roger Ronnie, said Samwu still had to reach a formal position on the matter. This would be discussed at its central executive committee meeting later this month and then again at the national congress in Port Elizabeth next month. Ronnie said at this stage there was no indication that union members were divided over the issue.

Ronnie said Samwu had over the past year conduced a series of discussions in the union on the unfolding political situation without taking a "hard and fast position on anything. I think the union has always taken a very open approach to political matters". Samwu has a membership of 122 000.

This weekend the SA Communist Party in KwaZulu-Natal also held a public launch of the organisation's central committee document, which focuses on the relationship of the SACP to state power and electoral options.

That document has led to increased acrimony between the SACP and the ANC as it lashed out at a "centralised" presidency and ANC, while suggesting that the SACP should consider putting up its own candidates in elections.


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3319744**

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