While the governing party is dogged by many challenges, it has remained a loyal ally of the working class and all workers should make sure it is elected at the upcoming local government elections, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said on Thursday.
She said workers would be the biggest losers if the ANC lost the election.
“The ANC has gone through a painful period. It is still recovering from the decade of state capture and the same demons of factionalism. Yet it remains a loyal ally of workers,” Losi said in closing remarks after the federation's four day central committee meeting.
The ANC, which is dogged by financial, operational and administrative challenges, has always depended on Cosatu’s grass-roots structures to win elections. It lost control of the crucial metros of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, and capital city Tshwane, to DA-led coalitions during the last municipal elections in 2016.
An Ipsos poll released recently showed declining support for the ANC, putting it at 49% nationally; down from the 57.5% it won in the 2019 general election. The DA, the polling indicates, failed to capitalise and is down three percentage points to 18%. The EFF posted significant growth at 15%, up from 11%.
“Workers cannot afford to see the ANC lose power to political parties with no history of supporting workers’ struggles. Workers cannot afford to see the election of parties who have unashamedly said they will repeal our progressive labour laws,” Losi, a former soldier in the SA National Defence Force said.
She said it was the ANC that ensured parliament passed many progressive labour laws including the national minimum wage, and the tabling of the National Health Insurance Bill, among other proposed legislation.
Losi said the ANC’s election manifesto, which would be launched by Ramaphosa in Tshwane on Monday, “is a progressive manifesto that addresses Cosatu’s key demands on rebuilding local government, tackling corruption, delivering basic services, creating jobs and growing the economy”.
“Cosatu and its affiliates reaffirm their overwhelming support for the ANC,” she said. “The federation and affiliates will be waging a relentless campaign to mobilise every worker and their family to turn out in their numbers and return the ANC to office in every town, city and village on November 1.”
The central committee noted that corruption and state capture had “crippled the state and hurt our ally, the ANC”.
Losi said Cosatu would escalate its proposals on additional measures to tackle corruption to the presidency for action. “This includes extending the ban on politicians from doing business with the state to include their spouses and children, resourcing the commercial crimes courts, investing in the SA Revenue Service to tackle tax evasion, and rebuilding the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and law-enforcement agencies.”
In her opening address to the central committee meeting on Monday, Losi also sent a similar message, saying that while the federation was disappointed with the behaviour of its comrades in the government, workers must not delude themselves into thinking they would be better off with the ANC defeated.
A recent survey found that South Africans perceived corruption as increasing during Ramaphosa’s term at the Union Buildings. Ramaphosa won the presidency on an anticorruption ticket in February 2018.
This week, public service and administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo launched the public administration ethics, integrity and disciplinary technical assistance unit, to curb the fraud and corruption scourge in the public service. The unit was also aimed at curbing the practice of employees doing business with the state.
Losi said the defeating corruption required everyone's contribution and that that included “unions, churches, pension funds and the private sector. Cosatu … will be redoubling our efforts to expose corruption at all levels”.
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