[Patrick Bond, if you're 'out there' what's up with this? Ian] ANC fears union plot to launch rival party
South Africa's ruling movement claims it faces 'systematic assault' from ultra-leftists Chris McGreal in Johannesburg Tuesday October 23, 2001 The Guardian South Africa's trade union leaders have accused the ruling African National Congress of character assassination and stifling criticism after the leaking of a confidential ANC document alleging that there is a "leftist" plot to launch a rival political party and draw the liberation movement back to its socialist roots. The document, drawn up earlier this month after a meeting of the ANC's national executive committee, warns that the party faces a "systematic assault" from "ultra-leftists" within its trade union allies. The authors go so far as to warn that leftwingers are planning to launch a "world revolution" from South Africa. But leaders of the trade union confederation, Cosatu, say the accusations are aimed at silencing critics of the government's unpopular economic policies. The document is further evidence of the growing rift between the ANC, Cosatu and the Communist party within the tripartite alliance formed to oppose apartheid. It warns of increasing independence of thought within Cosatu by those whose first loyalty is to the trade union movement rather than the ANC. "The NEC [national executive committee] concluded that there is an organised and loose conscious and sub-conscious tendency in components of the alliance which has decided to launch a systematic assault on the ANC from the left," the document says. It adds that leftwingers are planning to "transform Cosatu into a political formation, independent of the ANC", and to draw the Communist party into an alliance with the unions against the government. The aim, it says, is to pressurise the ANC into adopting socialism and "populist social and economic policies" with dire consequences. "By seeking to achieve an idealistic 'great leap' forward this would ultimately result in the collapse of our economy and country and the political victory of the forces of the right," it says. "We must learn from other countries, such as Chile, Grenada and elsewhere, if we want to avoid self-destruction of the national democratic revolution through carelessness, populism and the excitement of ultra-leftism that believes the task in our country today is to wage a class struggle against capitalists in the ANC." Perhaps the most extraordinary claim is that "leftists" in the alliance are planning to "use our country as a base to organise and launch an adventurist, ultra-left offensive against the most powerful governments and social forces in the world, to bring about 'workers' revolutions' both in South Africa and elsewhere. In this process, in an attempt that is condemned to fail, it will create conditions for the destruction of our movement and the defeat of our national democratic revolution." The "leftists" are not named in the document, but they are believed to include Cosatu's president, Willie Madisha, its general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, and Blade Nzimande, the Communist party leader. In response to the document, Cosatu issued a statement saying that the accusations "elevate to a status of official policy false rumours spread by some in the ANC leadership for some time now". Cosatu leaders have been outspoken in their criticism of the policies of South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki. The ANC document says the unions' largely unsuccessful two-day general strike against privatisation in August, and their public condemnation of the president's market-oriented economic strategy, have "severely strained" relations within the alliance. Mr Mbeki has also been humiliated by trade union leaders over his controversial views on Aids. "What is most disturbing is that on some issues, this tendency repeats, almost word for word, positions articulated by the official opposition: in condemning what it calls [like the opposition] 'quiet diplomacy' in Zimbabwe, in demanding a state of emergency on HIV-Aids, and in demanding the release of an unprocessed report on [Aids] mortality statistics," the ANC document says. At the weekend, Mr Vavi denied that he or other Cosatu leaders were planning a rival political party. He said the accusations were an attempt at character assassination aimed at discrediting union leaders among their members and stifling criticism. "This trend must be stopped in its tracks because it suppresses internal debates within the alliance," Mr Vavi told a union meeting. "Cosatu should not allow itself to be blackmailed into silence." He again attacked the government's economic record, saying that its policies had resulted in a "job-loss bloodbath" without attracting foreign investment. "Against this background it is important that we review the role of Cosatu and the alliance in the post-apartheid society," he said. Tensions have been further exacerbated by Cosatu's announcement that it plans a "summit" to challenge the government's economic policies. Some of the ANC's strongest critics including the churches have been invited. The meeting is intended to explore alternatives to the government's conservative growth, employment and redistribution policy, known as Gear. The government argues that its policies have saved South Africa from the painful structural adjustment programmes imposed on many other developing countries.
