Cosatu hails ANC manifesto as a silver bullet

Labour federation Cosatu, which has supported the ANC during elections since 1994, has thrown its weight behind the governing party’s manifesto, describing it as progressive and a silver bullet to address the country’s socioeconomic crises, including creating employment and fixing ailing state-owned enterprises.

The manifesto was a product of “robust engagements” between the ANC and its alliance partners, including Cosatu, the SACP and the SA National Civic Organisation, it said.

ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the election manifesto before thousands of party supporters at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday.

The ANC, which is beset by operational, administrative, governance and financial challenges, planned to create more than 2.5-million job opportunities in the next five years, Ramaphosa said, stressing the party was the only organisation that could take SA forward.

Under the Ramaphosa presidency, SA has been dogged by low economic growth, rolling power cuts, failing infrastructure, the rising cost of living, high unemployment, systemic corruption and violent crime.

Cosatu acting national spokesperson Matthew Parks said that the ANC manifesto provided a “sober and bold path for the next term that, if implemented, can see that challenges of unemployment, load-shedding, crime and corruption, poverty and inequality [are] overcome”.

“The manifesto is anchored upon an aggressive programme of investing in our industrial sectors and supporting locally produced goods, fixing our state-owned enterprises and municipalities, creating employment opportunities to help young people earn the skills and experiences to find work, rebuilding quality public and municipal services, and ramping up the fight against crime and corruption,” Parks said.

“It is a progressive manifesto that, if successfully implemented, will see the renewal of SA and a better life for millions of working-class families.”

At the weekend’s manifesto launch, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi, a key Ramaphosa ally, referred to Ramaphosa as the “incoming president of the seventh administration”.

Several surveys by the ANC, Ipsos, Social Research Foundation, Wits University and the Brenthurst Foundation have suggested the ANC’s electoral support could fall below 50% in the national and provincial elections to be held on May 29.

Losi said that Cosatu was “honoured to offer our support to the ANC”.

She said: “As we approach the elections, we see many parties promising heaven and earth, yet only one party has actually changed the lives of millions of working-class families.

“This manifesto belongs to all of us. It lays a path for universal healthcare, a basic income grant, for reliable and affordable electricity, modern ports and rail, quality public services, and massive investments in mining, manufacturing and agriculture.

“We are convinced the ANC, a movement built by workers, remains the most effective vehicle to improve the lives of working-class communities.

“We have no doubt President Ramaphosa will lead us to that better life.”

Strained relations

Over the years, however, relations between Cosatu and the ANC have come under strain, primarily because of the ANC’s poor performance in government and its lackadaisical approach to dealing with service delivery, corruption and malfeasance in the public service.

At its national congress in Midrand in September 2022, Cosatu’s largest affiliates, including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, the SA Municipal Workers Union and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, called for the labour federation to immediately dump the ANC and support the SACP in the 2024 elections.

The four unions, accounting for more than 600,000 of Cosatu’s estimated membership of 1.6-million, had accused the governing party of undermining workers and failing to implement alliance programmes.

In December 2023, Nehawu resolved to use its structures to campaign for an “outright majority victory” for the ANC, but some differences between the alliance partners remain unresolved.

Nelson Mandela University political analyst Prof Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the writing was on the wall that the ANC’s support would fall below 50% during the election.

“That is inevitable. One-party dominance is a thing of the past.

“The ANC has been on a downward trajectory since 2009 with the introduction of COPE. It never recovered from that,” Breakfast said.

He said the ANC had not covered itself in glory in implementing the findings of the state capture commission.

“The message it is sending out is that it is not taking the fight against corruption seriously. The ANC is approaching these elections on the back foot and, unfortunately, it’s the end of the road,” he said.

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za