The Star reports that tensions between labour federation Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP) were palpable during a bilateral meeting aimed at addressing their differences and challenges dogging the broader ruling alliance movement.
The communists did not take kindly to a Cosatu statement on Monday that it suspected those calling for the SACP to contest state power in 2019 “merely refer to being elected to legislatures or at best into political office”. SACP second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila lectured the unionists that there would have been no Cosatu if it were not for the communists. “There’s no organisation in this country that has built the trade union movement, wholeheartedly, than the communist party. No one. No single organisation. Not even the ANC comes close.” Despite the tension, Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini insisted: “There is no fight between the (communist) party and Cosatu, as we speak right now.”
- Read this report by Luyolo Mkentane in full at The Star
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