By Norm Dixon
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) are furious at the African National Congress government's decision on February 5 to approve a deal to privatise water delivery on kwaZulu-Natal's Dolphin Coast.
The deal gives the French multinational company Saur International control of the municipality's water system for 30 years. SAMWU and COSATU said on February 6 they were "shocked to learn" that Valli Moosa, minister for local government and constitutional affairs, had approved the Dolphin Coast deal, as well as another 30-year water privatisation contract with the British giant Biwater for water supply to Mpumalanga province's capital, Nelspruit.
The approval came as negotiations were continuing between the unions, the government and the Dolphin Coast municipality. There was supposed to be a moratorium on the contracts until meetings had been completed. Moosa told the press that the tripartite committee had no authority to discuss the deals.
SAMWU and COSATU pointed out that the deals are in breach of a December 1998 agreement with the South African Local Government Association which laid down that the public sector was to be the preferred deliverer of services, and that private sector involvement was only a last resort if no public sector provider was willing or able to provide the service.
SAMWU has appealed to the international labour movement to send letters of protest to the South African government and Dolphin Coast municipality. Send letters to: Minister Valli Moosa, e-mail <valli@dso.pwv.gov.za> or fax 27 21 461 0430; Kadar Asmal, minister for water affairs, e-mail <kasmal@anc.org.za> or fax 27 12 326 1780; and Dolphin Coast Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Ferguson, fax 27 322 525 5004. Send copies to <samwu@wn.apc.org>.
Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party's central committee said on February 7 it would throw its full weight behind the re-election of the ANC in the coming general elections, due in May or June. The SACP has set aside R1 million (A$200,000) to campaign among the organised workers, the party said.
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said that the marginalised and unemployed had to be convinced that it was in their best interests to vote for the ANC. "Regardless of the gripes and irritations these groups might have, the ANC is still the only party that has their particular interests at heart", Nzimande said.