Cosatu denies move to form party

By Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, OCT. 20. In the latest of the increasingly bitter exchanges among the partners of South Africa's Tripartite Alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has strongly denied that it harbours any ambitions to form an independent political party.

Dismissing the suggestion apparently made in an internal ANC document, briefing notes on the Alliance, that the Cosatu was undermining the ANC as a ``mischievous slander aimed at deflecting attention from genuine policy differences'', the Cosatu in a statement on Friday expressed its apprehension that such ``reckless labelling and character assassination create a dangerous environment that places the safety of Cosatu leadership at risk''.

While reiterating that only the ANC represented the interests of the formerly oppressed masses, the Cosatu noted some `disturbing trends' in the ANC document, among which were attempts to sow divisions between the Cosatu leadership and members, and an intolerance against those who disagreed with the ANC leadership on certain government policies. ``The Cosatu leaders will not be blackmailed into silence or forced to stop advocating the policies democratically decided by our members by being labelled and discredited as `counter-revolutionaries'``, the Cosatu said.

This is the latest polemical intervention on the state of the Tripartite Alliance comprising the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Cosatu. The Alliance came under considerable strain in recent times, a fact openly acknowledged by all sides. The differences touch the very core of the Government's macroeconomic policies formulated in the June 1996 document on Growth, Employment and Redistribution(Gear).

The most dramatic manifestation of these strains within the Alliance was the two-day general strike to protest against the Government's programme of privatisation of State owned assets organised by the Cosatu on August 29, 30, coinciding with the World Conference against Racism in Durban, hosted by the South African Government. The strike action was fully supported by the SACP.

The ANC is presently holding a series of meetings with its regional and branch leadership to discuss the `strained relations' in the Alliance.

The Cosatu's denial of independent political ambitions came in the wake of comments from the ANC's chief spokesperson, Mr. Smuts Ngonyama, that some elements in the Cosatu were trying to `undermine' the ANC and the ANC-led Government. Mr. Ngonyama also suggested that the Cosatu leaders were allowing themselves to be `used' against the ANC, and it was not unusual for `right- wingers to mouth that left positions'.

Mr. Ngonyama was responding to questions about an ANC `internal document' leaked to the media which suggests that some SACP and the Cosatu leaders were spreading allegations against the Government. The document, `Briefing Notes on the Alliance', is part of the documentation for the countrywide meetings that the ANC is holding to brief the regional and branch leadership on the recent discussions in the ANC's National Executive Committee on the state of the Alliance.

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Section  : International
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