News / Africa
ANC warns on Cosatu’s ‘MDC bid’
03 Nov 2010 at 04:00hrs | Views
RELATIONS in the tripartite alliance reached a new low yesterday, with the ANC bitterly attacking Cosatu and hinting that it was fuelling a Zimbabwe-style union-based opposition movement to bring about "regime change" in SA.
RELATIONS in the tripartite alliance reached a new low yesterday, with the African National Congress (ANC) bitterly attacking the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and hinting that it was fuelling a Zimbabwe-style union-based opposition movement to bring about "regime change" in SA.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday the ANC felt Cosatu's Civil Society Conference held last week had taken an "oppositionist stance".
While the ANC believed most Cosatu leaders had no intention of implementing "regime change" in SA, Mr Mantashe cautioned that the formation of a civil society movement outside the alliance was "interpreted as the initiation of regime change in SA".
Mr Mantashe said the ANC had been "prosecuted and found guilty in absentia".
The conference was seen as a step by Cosatu to test the waters before breaking out of the alliance, but Cosatu was at pains to stress it was not an anti-ANC front.
Mr Mantashe said the fact that some had raised the possibility of forming a workers' party confirmed the "recycled idea of weakening, and ultimately dividing, the ANC and the alliance".
"When COPE was formed, we raised the consistent efforts made in the region by powerful international forces to weaken the liberation movements.
"This was the process that preceded the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy in Zambia," he said.
Mr Mantashe said the ANC's working committee, which met on Monday, was appalled by Mr Vavi's reference to some leaders in the ANC as a "predator elite".
Mr Vavi defended the decision to hold the conference, saying the ANC's response showed it was being "paranoid". Cosatu said Mr Mantashe failed to "understand the nature and role of civil society in the national democratic revolution and raises totally groundless fears of an opposition bloc".
Mr Mantashe said the differences would be discussed at a meeting with Cosatu that will be convened urgently.
RELATIONS in the tripartite alliance reached a new low yesterday, with the African National Congress (ANC) bitterly attacking the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and hinting that it was fuelling a Zimbabwe-style union-based opposition movement to bring about "regime change" in SA.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday the ANC felt Cosatu's Civil Society Conference held last week had taken an "oppositionist stance".
While the ANC believed most Cosatu leaders had no intention of implementing "regime change" in SA, Mr Mantashe cautioned that the formation of a civil society movement outside the alliance was "interpreted as the initiation of regime change in SA".
Mr Mantashe said the ANC had been "prosecuted and found guilty in absentia".
The conference was seen as a step by Cosatu to test the waters before breaking out of the alliance, but Cosatu was at pains to stress it was not an anti-ANC front.
Mr Mantashe said the fact that some had raised the possibility of forming a workers' party confirmed the "recycled idea of weakening, and ultimately dividing, the ANC and the alliance".
"When COPE was formed, we raised the consistent efforts made in the region by powerful international forces to weaken the liberation movements.
"This was the process that preceded the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy in Zambia," he said.
Mr Mantashe said the ANC's working committee, which met on Monday, was appalled by Mr Vavi's reference to some leaders in the ANC as a "predator elite".
Mr Vavi defended the decision to hold the conference, saying the ANC's response showed it was being "paranoid". Cosatu said Mr Mantashe failed to "understand the nature and role of civil society in the national democratic revolution and raises totally groundless fears of an opposition bloc".
Mr Mantashe said the differences would be discussed at a meeting with Cosatu that will be convened urgently.
Source - Business day
