Tripartite alliance partner Cosatu has once again advised the African National Congress that the centre of power should be the alliance and not the ANC. This coming at a time when Cosatu and the SACP are frustrated by the lack of material leftward movement on economic policy by the government and not having a substantial say in what the alliance tenders to government on issues of policy.
As things presently stand and despite increased advisory powers, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party do not have the final say because the ANC makes the decisions after receiving recommendations from the two. This leaves the ANC in control of the policy directives that go from ruling party to government.
Cosatu has had enough of this and has threatened to withhold its support for the ANC during election campaigns with counter-accusations yesterday by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that they are behaving like an opposition party and threatening the survival of the alliance.
At a recent meeting of Numsa, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told delegates that the ANC and ANCYL’s rejection of the alliance as the centre of power was creating a crisis because Cosatu’s integrity was being undermined as a result of their members believing that there was consensus on this issue.
Though both blame each other for the current situation within which they find themselves what cannot be ignored is the fact that both are claiming that the very alliance is at risk. Moreover that one of them is going to have to take a material step backwards in order to restore harmony — either the ANC allows a paradigm shift in the power structure of the alliance ie recognising the alliance as the centre of power or Cosatu accepts the status quo which means backing down from its present demand.
In terms of the ANC allowing the alliance to take control of affairs, rather than themselves, you would have what is tantamount to an abdication with a totally new ruling party whose decisions are made by the committee appointed by the three entities making up the alliance. An enormous step by anyone’s reckoning.
As opposed to that Cosatu backing down on its demand for that shift in power allied to its threat to no longer support the ANC during elections. If they were to do that then as Vavi has said the integrity of the union is under threat because they had been led to believe that that was what was going to happen.
How then do they explain that not only are they not at the centre of power, economic policies are being adopted which continue to be centrist rather than leftist, but worst of all their alliance partner without consulting them took a decision to ban all municipal workers from being active in political parties?
Though yesterday’s heated debate between Cosatu and the ANC at Luthuli House focused on a variety of issues ranging from Eskom to lifestyle audits, they are not the key component that is causing concern. It is the question of power and in what format the alliance will continue.
In a nutshell, who is going to blink first.
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