The ANC is increasingly presiding over a nation that is politically unstable, experiencing periodical rioting and suffering from rampant crime levels, and is hungrier with a high disease burden, trade union federation Cosatu said in a statement late on Wednesday.
The country’s biggest trade union federation also warned that there is an urgent need to defeat and eradicate tribal and racial divisions that deny South Africans their common identity.
Cosatu, which is in a tripartite alliance with the governing party, made these sentiments ahead of the ANC’s 111th anniversary celebrations to be held in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
“South African workers expect a solid political and economic programme to kickstart the economy and accelerate economic transformation. The ANC 2023 January 8th statement should take forward the progressive policy elements that came out of the policy conference,” Cosatu said.
“We expect the ANC NEC [national executive committee] to come out with urgent solutions to address the scourge of poverty and degradation that exist side by side with lavish wealth.
“We hope that the ANC will reflect on its government’s growing inability to grow the economy, fix electricity loadshedding and reduce unemployment and poverty.”
The ruling party will on Thursday wrap up the business of its December conference, which did not finalise resolutions. This comes against the backdrop of increasing criticism from some of the federation’s biggest affiliates against the ANC government.
In September, affiliates including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union and the National Union of Mineworkers won a vote forcing Cosatu to dump the ANC in favour of supporting the SACP at provincial and national elections in 2024.
Cosatu also expects to see various measures being introduced to crack down on corruption and defeat the “predatory elite”.
“The NEC needs to decisively deal with the escalation of ill-discipline and the entrenchment of alien organisational practices, crass materialism, and the politics of patronage in provinces.
“The ANC NEC needs to tackle, arrest, and reverse the negative tendencies that have eroded and threaten to erode the political integrity and moral standing of the ANC in the eyes of society.
“The threats and strategic tasks identified above need to be understood within the context of immediate threats facing our revolution, here and now. Failure to appreciate these immediate dangers could open the prospect of defeat of our revolution. This is because we are faced with a crisis which must be dealt with without delay.”
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