Volume 9, No.4 - October 2000
United and Strong
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The Workers' Parliament COSATU's 7th National Congress - has come and gone. It was a watershed in more ways than one. Our worst enemies and our admirers will for the first time find common ground - that the COSATU congress was an all-round success and that no ordinary organisation has the capacity and resources to organise a congress of such high standards. Very few will contradict our claim that COSATU, as if it moves towards celebrating its 15 years of existence, has greater cohesion than any point in its history. We have never been so united, so strong and so confident. This organisational cohesion and internal democracy was manifested in robust and open debates around a variety of issues. The congress proved beyond doubt that COSATU is the conscience of our nation. We speak out increasingly not only for our immediate members but for the broader working class. The congress also helped to further shift the balance of forces in favour of the working class and played a meaningful role in the continuing struggle to deepen the Nation Democratic Revolution and consolidate the transformation process. We also discussed, as reflected in our resolutions, practical measures we should embark upon to take this process forward. COSATU remains an engaging federation, actively involved both in the policy and legislative terrain and in campaigns. Through this engagement we struggle to impose a working-class hegemony in our society. This is a struggle that cannot be won through speeches or resolutions only. It requires theoretical clarity, consistent struggle and the building of strategic alliances. Yet we operate in a hostile environment. A neo-liberal hegemony is being imposed, with those holding different views vilified in the press and their proposals portrayed as outdated and or unworkable. Too often the public is told that the organised working class forms an elite that serves narrow interests at the expense of 'broader national interests'. If you take a closer look at this 'national interest' you will discover that the neo liberal programme demands that all of us should embark on a striptease to entice the bourgeoisie to end their investment strike. These attacks are often accompanied by personal attacks on the COSATU leadership, as well as what appears to be calculated and deliberate spreading of malicious rumours and untruths about COSATU and its leaders, including the lie that we provided material support to the MDC of Zimbabwe. |
In this issue
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The close to 2500 delegates, representing over 1,8 million members, over four days concentrated on the task at hand with military precision. They were preoccupied by one common objective - how best to reposition our movement to meet the challenges of the 21st century. For months before, and during the congress itself, workers set themselves the goal to make the best out of this rare opportunity to dictate en masse the direction of their federation. The 7th National Congress was indeed not just a workers' parliament but a conference of millions of others watching proceedings live on their TV sets, bound by a set of common objectives - eradication of poverty and the need to create quality jobs for all. This Shopsteward is the first since the congress and accordingly reports extensively about this workers' parliament. The declaration adopted, as well as the programme of action, summarise some of the key decisions. The details of all these decision are contained in the 35 resolutions, which will be circulated early next year. The challenge now is how do we, guided by the resolutions of the congress, move forward to implement all its decisions with the same vigour that we used to draft and adopt them. We have already implemented our decision to support and join the SACP-led campaign for the transformation of the banks and the financial sector to make them play a positive role that will help to improve the life of the working class. We are in the process of preparing for the Central Executive Committee at the end of the year. It will adopt a three-year programme leading us to the 8th National Congress scheduled for September 2003. The first issue of the Shopsteward for 2001 will contain this programme. We will also allocate resources, within our means, to take forward our decisions over that period. The challenge to all members is to ensure that we continue to debate how we take forward these decisions. We must all take part in planning and implementation - this task cannot be relegated to the leadership only. The immediate task for all of us is to mobilise our fellow members, workers in general and their families, to vote on 5 December 2000 and most importantly to vote for the ANC. Our historic mission is to deepen transformation of the state, including local government, to serve the needs of the working class and the formerly marginalised. This mission will remain a dream if we do not mobilise tirelessly for a decisive ANC victory on 5 December. The ANC's manifesto is distinct from all other parties'. It addresses the needs of our people and responds to their constructive criticism. It sits comfortably with the slogan the democratic movement adopted in the 1999 election - speeding up change and building a better life for all. Failure to mobilise for ANC would amount to handing over our freedom, and all the gains we have made, on a silver platter to the counter-revolutionary Democratic Alliance. As the experience elsewhere in the world shows, given a chance, these conservative employers biased political parties will roll back every worker and working class gain. We cannot allow them to do that! This call does not mean the criticisms we raised in the congress against certain policies adopted by the government are no longer valid. We will continue making these criticisms as long as we believe the policies in question are not in the interests of workers and the working class. IGoli 2002 is one such programme. GEAR is another, as well as its ideologically inspired amendments to the labour laws that reverse some of the gains we have made. Whilst the Tripartite Alliance continues to search for a common ground on these problems, the most critical question is that these policies can only be changed if there is a consistent campaign against them. This is what the 7th Congress said we must do and this is what we must prepare to do. As we mobilise for an ANC victory we must also mobilise for three other important events. 1 December is World HIV/Aids Day. We are calling on workers to demonstrate in their factories, demanding affordable treatment for those affected by HIV/Aids, to hold prayer meetings to remember those who have left us as a result of this epidemic and demand to an end to discrimination and castigation of those affected by HIV/Aids. 1 December is also COSATU's15th birthday. We will celebrate this historic day at the Library Gardens, Johannesburg, on 2 December, when we will also honour Nelson Mandela with the Elijah Barayi Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service. Lastly the annual sixteen days of activism against women and child abuse starts on 16 November until 10 December 2000. Ensure that you mobilise for this, to expose this abuse, including domestic abuse, and demand stiffer action against perpetrators. We are set to take our campaign against poverty and for the creation of quality jobs to new heights in the coming period. We have tentatively penned the end of March 2001 as our first three-day stayaway, if our government does not back off from its proposed labour law amendments and take firm action to deal with the job-loss bloodbath and deepening poverty. All the best in the coming period. |
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