The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has warned its ally, the ANC, that it faces a rude awakening at the 2024 national polls if it does not rid itself of corrupt leaders at its December elective conference.
The union, one of the largest under the Cosatu federation with 170,000 members, is holding its elective conference in Boksburg on the East Rand. It has produced notable ANC leaders, such as President Cyril Ramaphosa, mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe and former general secretary Frans Baleni.
The union attributed the ANC’s poor showing at 2021’s local government elections — where it lost metros including Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni to DA-led opposition coalitions — to the party’s poor leadership.
“As NUM, we believe among other contributing factors is the decline of quality of leadership in the ANC, which manifests in selfishness that leads to corruption in government,” the union’s secretariat report noted.
Ramaphosa was elected ANC president on an anticorruption ticket in December 2017, promising a “new dawn” after former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption-riddled tenure at both Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters, and the Union Buildings, the seat of government.
The ANC is riddled with factionalism and a number of its senior leaders have been fingered for corruption and other ills by chief justice Raymond Zondo, chair of the commission of inquiry into state capture.
Ramaphosa declared in August 2020 that the ANC “was accused number one” in corruption. ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was suspended by the party earlier in 2021 after failing to step aside voluntarily, in line with the step-aside rule, which states that those facing corruption or criminal charges have to step aside from their position.
Magashule, a Zuma ally, is facing a raft of charges, including corruption, fraud and racketeering related to a R250m asbestos eradication tender that was awarded in the Free State during his time as premier.
NUM said it was no secret that most of those in government had become “very rich”.
“We call on the ANC to ensure that its current leaders become intolerant to thieving... Those who want to be rich must join the private sector,” the union said.
“The ANC knows the thieves within and around itself. Some of the leaders who hold positions are not supposed to be in the leadership positions, in terms of the prescripts of ‘Through the Eye of the Needle’ [party document]. But they are [there] nevertheless, contaminating everyone next to them without consequences.”
“If [the ANC] fails to change the quality of its leadership, it will kiss goodbye the political power in the 2024 [national] elections. It is sad to say this, but if we love the ANC and want it to continue to rule properly, we must say these hard realities before its opponents celebrate its fall.”
The ANC has been beset by organisational, administrative and financial challenges that have seen it struggle to pay its staff. Its electoral support has been declining over the years. Despite pledges and efforts by Ramaphosa to reform it, its national support dipped below 50% for the first time during the 2021 local government elections in November.
“This destroys the faith the general poor masses of our country had in the ANC. As a result, they are losing all hope in both the government and the ruling party,” NUM said.
The union warned that the ANC was “marching fast from one great 2021 electoral defeat to another unless there is an aggressive and dedicated turnaround”.
Ramaphosa, one of the founding leaders of NUM, called on the Cosatu affiliate to hold the ANC accountable and speak out against corruption, for the governing party to regain its legitimacy.
Delivering a keynote address at NUM’s national congress on Wednesday, Ramaphosa, who is seeking a second term as ANC leader, said the governing party would regain its stature as leader of society through NUM support.
The union has supported the ANC in local government and national elections since 1994. It was among unions that supported Ramaphosa’s successful bid for ANC presidency in 2017.
Ramaphosa commended NUM’s culture of standing up against corruption, maladministration, leadership tussles, scandals and internal strife. “We want you to bring that culture to your organisation, the ANC, which you have always supported,” Ramaphosa said.
“We rely on NUM and Cosatu as well, to strengthen the ANC, to make the ANC the leader of society once again. But also, [do] not be shy, or hold back when the ANC goes wrong — speak truth to power. That’s your role as NUM. Take it with good effect. For us to regain legitimacy, it is you who must tell the ANC to go back to basics.”
He said he hoped that the Cosatu, SACP and ANC national congresses later in 2022 would elect credible leaders who would take “our organisations forward”.
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