IOL *Mantashe: Preserve the alliance* *Natasha Marrian, IOL, Johannesburg, 7 October 2010*Johannesburg - African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Thursday cautioned the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) against being "reckless" with their alliance.
"If we are reckless and take it for granted... it will no longer be there," he told the South African Democratic Teachers' Union congress in Boksburg.
"We must not treat each in the alliance like we are doing each other a favour."
Mantashe said the nature of the relationship had to be understood and that there would always be disagreement among partners.
"We must appreciate that there must be disagreement... We must appreciate that they (disagreements) will be there in the future."
"All alliance partners have a duty and responsibility to ensure that there is unity and cohesion."
"Cosatu being in an alliance with the ANC and SACP adds value to you. Therefore, if you move out of the revolutionary alliance, you are going to be ordinary.
"The ANC is what it is because it is leading a broad movement," he said.Sadtu president Thobile Ntola on Wednesday said the left would "take over the ANC in 2012".
Mantashe warned moving to such political extremes was dangerous."Once a revolutionary movement moves to the extreme, you're going to risk the extreme right and the extreme left moving so close together that they agree by default. It's a reaction driven by anger, not by ideology."
He had no problem with trade union movements saying they wanted to take over the ANC. It was the "route" they took that mattered, and this was to swell the ranks of the ANC and ensure there were delegates at the party's conferences.
"Delegates have more power than members... I am not at the mercy of anyone here, only those who go to ANC conferences as delegates," he said. -- Sapa
*From: http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mantashe-preserve-the-alliance-1.684512?showComments=true*
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