South African union leader: 'Alliance not carved in stone'

Issue 

By Norm Dixon

The alliance between the African National Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party is under pressure, National Union of Mineworkers president James Motlatsi indicated on March 15. He said that while the alliance was "not carved in stone throughout time", it was not yet time to end it.

Motlatsi was speaking following the NUM Central Committee conference in Pretoria. The miners' union is one of South Africa's most powerful and politically influential unions. It is from the NUM's ranks that Cyril Ramaphosa, ANC secretary general and head of the Constitutional Assembly, was drawn.

The mineworkers' leader said that in the past some COSATU affiliates had "demanded a break from the alliance. Their views were rejected at the time, but they have been revived over the present dispute about government plans to privatise public utilities." In December, deputy president Thabo Mbeki announced plans to privatise 49% of Telkom, South Africa's telecommunications utility, South African Airways, airports and a range of other state assets.

"The ANC can sometimes appear to have a split personality, pursuing entirely contradictory policies in and out of government", Motlatsi admitted. "The alliance is a strategic issue. The labour movement is not in alliance for old time's sake. Nor is the alliance a partnership that is to be carved in stone throughout time."

There was room for revitalising the alliance and addressing its weaknesses, Motlatsi added. The alliance did not set the political agenda in South Africa but simply responded to "capital's agenda". "The alliance is currently failing because it exists only at the top. There is no real coordination of forces at factory, mine, shop, farm and township level ... It only meets when there are problems. If no problem seems important enough to warrant a meeting, then the alliance, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. It is therefore a body that responds to problems and does not initiate programs."

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