South Africa

South Africa

Tripartite Alliance meeting postponed as ANC plans to consult

Tripartite Alliance meeting postponed as ANC plans to consult

The ANC’s alliance partners have recently called out the ruling party on allegations of state capture and making decisions without consultation. They hoped to raise issues at an alliance meeting this week, but, for now, the ANC will avoid the tough questions after postponing the meeting. By GREG NICOLSON.

Speakers at last week’s Cosatu Central Committee meeting spoke at length on problems within the ANC and Tripartite Alliance. They planned to raise the issues at the Alliance Political Council, scheduled for Sunday and Monday. It would have been the first time the alliance had met since a number of members called on Zuma to step down.

Cosatu General Secretary S’dumo Dlamini said the labour federation has a duty to call the ANC to order and say there should be “no big brother and no small boy” among alliance partners. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said unionists must speak truth to power and strengthen Cosatu’s voice. South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Blade Nzimande said the alliance needs to change the way it functions. They can no longer campaign together and then let the ANC, and sometimes individuals, decide on deployments. The South African National Civic Organisation’s (Sanco) Skhumbuzo Mpanza agreed the alliance must be “reconfigured”, a key word for the ANC’s three partners.

To the frustration of the SACP, the Alliance Political Council has been postponed at the request of the ANC. The council brings together the four alliance partners to decide on joint programmes. The SACP hasn’t taken an official decision, but all of the ANC’s alliance partners have been critical of President Jacob Zuma and support Ramaphosa’s presidency campaign. The council meeting would have been the first since Zuma’s widespread Cabinet reshuffle and Cosatu’s and the SACP’s calls for the president to resign.

According the SACP, the ANC on Saturday requested that the political council meeting be postponed. Nzimande on Sunday raised the issue but did not want to elaborate. The party was speaking after a meeting of its Central Committee over the weekend. SACP Deputy Secretary Jeremy Cronin said the postponement was concerning and the SACP planned to raised tough issues around the president and state capture.

One, we are concerned that it’s being postponed,” said Cronin. “Secondly, we can confirm that we intended to have a difficult and hard discussion at the political council.”

The SACP’s Second Deputy Secretary General Solly Mapaila, who has been outspoken against the Guptas and Zuma, said the ANC made a last-minute request to postpone the meeting. “Obviously the Central Committee is concerned about that.”

He suggested the ANC had also tried to change the meeting’s agenda and said issues over the Guptas and the president need to be discussed in light of recent events. Mapaila said the ANC hasn’t met its alliance partners since the turmoil of the Cabinet reshuffle and the e-mail leak describing the extent of state capture was revealed. Zuma’s supporters recently protested at Mapaila’s home, leading the SACP to claim his life was under threat.

It’s not good enough to hide on the bilaterals and not respond to the issues that the country’s burning out of a serious problem of corporate capture of the state,” said Mapaila. “We want this Alliance Political Council… It’s a matter we cannot avoid.”

The ANC has proposed it hold bilateral meetings with its various partners before entering into a full council meeting between all alliance members. SACP leaders said they’re still waiting for the ANC to elaborate on its reasons for calling for a postponement. Mapaila said the SACP has held two bilateral meetings with the ANC since March.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa on Sunday said the postponement had mutual support among alliance partners. The ANC first needs to understand the position from its partners calling on Zuma to resign in order to hold a fruitful Political Alliance Council. “We can’t be irresponsible. It’s one thing to have a discussion and that discussion doesn’t bring about any results,” said Kodwa. He said first the ANC needs to understand the issues its partners were raising.

Asked whether the SACP agreed to the postponement, spokesperson Alex Mashilo said the Central Committee discussed the issue and made a decision but had not yet communicated it to the ANC. “The mere fact that [SACP leaders] expressed concern about the postponement gives an indication; it’s an indication of where the SACP stands.”

Mashilo said bilateral meetings can be conducted between any two alliance partners but they don’t represent the views of the alliance; that’s for the Alliance Political Council to decide. Such a meeting would include the top six leaders from all formations, except Sanco, which has a top five.

Kodwa denied that the ANC was avoiding difficult conversations and maintained that the party needed first to engage its partners separately before holding a successful joint meeting. No dates have been set for a future Political Alliance Council or the bilateral meetings, he said.

The SACP, which will hold its national congress in July, said the ANC’s problems are obvious. “It’s no secret that the ANC is now in deep crisis. At the highest national leadership level it is paralysed by deep divisions that, for the moment, render it incapable of undertaking the decisive corrective measures that the great majority or ordinary members and supporters now clearly recognise as imperative, beginning with the stepping down of President Zuma.”

It made six demands. It said an independent judicial commission of inquiry into state capture should be established immediately. Nzimande said it should include issues other than the Gupta family but not be so broad that it will lose focus and take too long to complete its work. They want the Eskom board to be dissolved, an end to factionalism within the criminal justice system, strengthening of parliamentary oversight, lifestyle audits on senior politicians, and the nuclear energy programme to be halted.

On the #GuptaLeaks e-mails, which have exposed the extent of the family’s influence over the state, Cronin said, “There are prosecutable cases that need to be pursued.” SACP leaders agreed that the e-mail leaks appear legitimate. “We shouldn’t be looking for a silver bullet. In fact, we’re sprayed with a machine gun of bullets of all kind,” said Cronin.

The SACP has been criticised for supporting Zuma in his battle against President Thabo Mbeki and his ANC re-election in 2012. Leaders said they’re analysing what went wrong to avoid history repeating itself as they now target Zuma and support Ramaphosa. DM

Photo: (background) President Jacob Zuma and S’dumo Dlamini (Jordi Matas); (middle) SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande attends Popcru’s national political school in Benoni, 22 August 2013. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

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