Durban - The elective conference of Cosatu-affiliated Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) on Thursday in the Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, nearly turned into a platform to criticise the administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa and highlight the failures of the ANC.
Among the issues that became thorny was Ramaphosa’s government perceived neo-liberal stance, the issue of Covid-19 and perceptions that his administration has disengaged from BRICS (Brazil Russia India China and South Africa) formation which was seen to be a counter-punch to the west.
With about 1 000 delegates, the conference started on Wednesday and yesterday was the main day, with the political overview being delivered by the outgoing chairperson, Mabona Nyawo.
Unflinching, Nyawo while delivering the report, tore through the ANC saying it has been characterised by factionalism. He said unity was only preached on public platforms by leaders who later reverted to their divisive ways, thus weakening the ANC as a leader of the society and the national democratic revolution (NDR).
Nyawo said there was no doubt that the NDR had lost its way.
“If you talk about the national democratic revolution, the compass has shifted. A lot of questions, as the working class, we ask ourselves but we can tell that the NDR has lost track. Hence, we say the political compass is impaired… Are we still (on) the right track in terms of NDR? Is the person who (is) assigned to lead us through this process; is he still the right person?” Nyawo asked.
Indirectly touching on current leaders of the ANC, he said they should ask themselves whether it was the bus or the driver that was off track.
“Is it the bus which has got a problem or is the driver driving the bus that has got problems? Those are the questions we must ask ourselves and we must debate them all, so that we can repair what has been damaged.”
He said the leaks from national executive committee meetings of the ANC painted a picture of a party in dire straits, a situation the working class couldn’t ignore.
“There is a lot that comes into our minds that we need to step back, ponder and see if we are still in the right bus. Do we still have the right driver? If not, that must be rectified because we can’t afford to lose the track.
“Comrades, we have seen that the ANC is in a spiral downfall. There is a drop of support from the urban (voters), a drop from the rural (voters) and indeed from the workers.”
The conference nearly turned into a ground for factional battles when the provincial secretary of the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal, Themba Mthembu, lamented that under the current administration, the BRICS agenda had seemingly been abandoned in favour of a Western one.
“We were hoping that BRICS was going to be a good platform for us,” Mthembu said.
In another apparent dig at Ramaphosa, who recently told Parliament that the government didn’t create job opportunities, but that the private sector did, he said that was “not true.”
With regards the Covid-19 pandemic, Mthembu also questioned the reluctance to approve Covid-19 vaccines like Sputnik from Russia.
Mthembu’s stance on the job creation matter was backed by newly-elected Cosatu KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Phumlani Duma, who told the conference that it was a fallacy that the government didn’t create job opportunities. He said that like all other governments in the world, it had a duty to create jobs, together with the private sector.
“We believe this (Ramaphosa) government has a duty to create jobs like any other government, but also the private sector can do the same. You do not relinquish your responsibilities in the room because it is too hot in the room,” Duma said.
The accusations that Ramaphosa’s government was more into neo-liberalism, that it had ditched BRICS and its Covid-19 policies, seemingly irked one of his backers for a second term, Mzwandile Mkhwanazi.
Mkhwanazi, who is a provincial executive committee member of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, used his time while addressing the conference to defend Ramaphosa.
Specifically on the issue of BRICS, he hotly disputed that Ramaphosa and his government had dumped the grouping, citing several occasions where the president took part in its meetings.
“There are those who are saying that this (Ramaphosa) administration, ever since it has taken over, is leaning towards the West. It’s propaganda, it’s not true.”
Political Bureau