BL Premium reports that Cosatu came out with guns blazing at the national executive committee (NEC) lekgotla of its key ally, the ANC, at the weekend, saying the party was in a mess, was dying and faced the real prospect of losing power in the 2024 election.
The labour federation also took a swipe at tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu after her attacks on the constitution and black judges, saying the ANC’s failure to discipline deployees was feeding a culture of mediocrity and only bold action could save it. Cosatu’s forthrightness could force the ANC to tackle some of its challenges as the party has depended on the federation’s grass-roots structures to win elections since 1994. In her speech during the lekgotla on Saturday, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said the party’s performance during the municipal elections had not been not a surprise. “It was expected, given an unemployment rate of 44%, rampant corruption and deteriorating public services … If we continue on this road we must accept that we will lose the 2024 elections,” Losi remarked. On SA’s economic challenges, Cosatu said it wanted every sphere of government and state-owned enterprise to have “job creation and economic growth at the heart of their work”. Both the public and private sectors needed to accelerate the implementation of the economic reconstruction and recovery plan and ramp up local procurement, Losi stated. “We need a social compact with government and business where they commit to halting retrenchments and creating jobs,” she indicated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, If ANC is dying, so is Cosatu, says Michael Bagraim, at BusinessLive (letter to the editor)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page