By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile has moved to assure South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) that the party has not completely lost grip of power as the party grapples with a new reality in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Mbalula delivered a keynote address at the SATAWU’s three-day National Congress in Bloemfotein.
The three-day conference will discuss issues like the non-payment of salaries of members who work for private companies, as well as the privatisation of state entities.
SATAWU said its incoming leadership should develop a programme that will address the challenges faced by workers in the transport, security and cleaning services sectors.
Delegates have slammed the decision by the ANC to unilaterally enter into a GNU.
During its 112 years of existence, the ANC was able to develop a long historical relationship with progressive trade unions in South Africa.
“Our message to SATAWU is to clarify most of the misconceptions about the formation of the GNU and to outline the strategic perspective of the ANC. Because it will be incorrect to continually spread the message that GNU was of our making, it is a tactical…that came as a result of low performance of the ANC in the elections.”
The GNU was the mechanism used to transfer South Africa from an apartheid autocratic state to a constitutional democracy.
President Cyril Ramaphosa played a significant role in the formation of the GNU, and it has again won his favour as it suits his temperament as a negotiator and a believer in big-tent politics.
The GNU is the most faithful expression of the wishes of the 16 million South Africans who voted on May 29.
They did not choose any party to have a majority and spread the vote across many parties in a fractal expression of unhappiness with the country’s state and the political class.