ANALYSIS: Tripartite of ANC, SACP and COSATU buried

by LUKE MONTGOMERY ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been inaugurated. What next for the tripartite members?  

The African National Congress (ANC) had, all these years, used the tripartite arrangement to stay in power, but the political decision making remained with the ANC.  

The ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe challenged the South African Communist Party (SACP) to go it alone when the SACP Secretary General Solly Mapaila persistently questioned unilateral ANC decisions.

The ANC agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) are of such major departure from tripartite members, that they did not agree.

Even with the support of previous Presidents, the recent elections may indicate continuance of coalition governments as the ANC may not regain majority votes.  

What then is the relevance of the tripartite members?
         
The Government of National Unity (GNU) is an opportunity for the SACP to go it alone because the party rejected the GNU elements.  

The SACP had already tested their ground and could possibly constitute part of future governments in their own right. Currently the SACP has no voice, other than some of them appointed as Ministers.

Similarly COSATU had been ignored by the ANC. The Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) gains little from the tripartite arrangements and are merely the greyhounds of the ANC.  

If COSATU goes it alone or supports other formations, the ANC will never gain majority votes.

The absence of the influences of the two members of the tripartite will diminish ANC votes, because the inclusion of the DA is easy to disown.  

This tripartite has lost its meaning. If the SACP and COSATU stay on, they will lose relevance.  

Their political positions of fighting monopoly capital and the rights of the poor workers will be dismissed by their support base.

South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), whose Secretary General is Zwelinzima Vavi, has always maintained that the COSATU is a lapdog of the ANC and opted out of COSATU.

The impact of imperial underhand cannot be ruled out. These underground forces, who finance the parties, see SACP and COSATU as belligerent reservoirs of communism and labour inflexibility.

From all angles of analysis, the Tripartite of ANC, SACP and COSATU is as good as gone, whether the GNU succeeds or not.
 
I pray that the GNU succeeds because the SACP and COSATU are fighting a wrong battle.  They go one step forward and two steps back.  

They maintain the ‘employer’ and ‘employee’ relationships, but to their benefit as members pay union membership fees.  

The ultimate solution for the growth of South Africa does not lie in unionism or communism or worker/employer dichotomy.  

Maybe the GNU will draw new progressive parameters, which everybody is hoping for.
Luke Montgomery Zunga 081 722 9990

NB: Luke Montgomery Zunga is a socio-economic and political commentator.

– CAJ News