Cosatu welcomes ANC NEC statement 08-01-08

 

COSATU welcomes ANC NEC statement

The Congress of South African Trade Unions warmly welcomes today’s statement by the ANC National Executive Committee, issued after its inaugural meeting on Monday 7 January 2008 in Esselen Park, Ekurhuleni. It is a breath of fresh air, which fills us with hope that the new ANC leadership will unite the movement and the country and speed up the transformation of the lives of our people.

We congratulate the newly elected members of the National Working Committee and wish them success in meeting the many challenges which will face them in the coming period.

COSATU wholeheartedly agrees with the statement that “the unity of the movement is paramount” and will do everything possible to ensure that all our 1.9 million members play their part in building that unity and cohesion and ensuring that the ANC remains “a united, coherent organ of popular action”.

In particular COSATU welcomes and endorses the decision that “there is only one ANC, with one programme of democratic transformation, and one national leadership collective” and that the new NEC has to take the lead in implementing all the decisions reached at the Polokwane national conference.

We look forward eagerly to the presentation of the annual January 8th Statement by ANC President Jacob Zuma at the national rally on Saturday 12 January at Super Stadium in Atteridgeville, Tshwane, and urge all our members in Gauteng and neighbouring provinces to attend.

COSATU applauds the NEC for its strong stance on the charges that have been brought against Jacob Zuma by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). We fully shares the concern expressed in the statement “about the timing of these charges, and the general conduct of the NPA in this case, including inconsistency in the application of its mandate and leaking of information to the media”.

We welcome the NEC’s reaffirmation of its support for the ANC President and the categorical decision that he will lead the ANC election campaign as the candidate for president of South Africa in the 2009 election. We pledge COSATU’s total commitment to mobilise all our forces to secure a fourth overwhelming victory for the ANC in that election.

COSATU notes and welcomes the NEC’s decision to publish a detailed factual report on the arms deal and hopes that this will finally get to the truth behind all the allegations. We call on the NEC to back COSATU’s call for a judicial enquiry into the deal. We hope that this will enable the whole movement to clear the matter up so that we can put it behind us, and focus on the revolutionary tasks of creating jobs, eradicating poverty and building a just and equitable South Africa.

We look forward to the forthcoming Summit meeting of the Tripartite Alliance and are confident that after years of problems with the functioning of the alliance we shall move forward together as a united revolutionary movement.