Cape Town - The Young Communist League of South Africa must mobilise young workers, especially those already in trade unions, to prevent Cosatu being divorced from the ANC, SACP boss Blade Nzimande has said.
“Go out and reach out to the ordinary members of Numsa to remain within Cosatu and to remain within the alliance,” he told about 1 000 delegates on the first day of the league’s national congress at UWC on Thursday.
“There’s no political party, including the ANC, our movement… that has built the progressive trade union movement more than the SACP. We are proud of that. Even Cosatu… we were there when we built Cosatu,” said Nzimande, who again pledged his party’s support to the ANC-led process for unity in the fractured labour federation.
His comments came as Numsa announced it would challenge in court its expulsion from Cosatu. At last month’s special central executive committee, Cosatu expelled its largest affiliate for, among other things, not supporting the ANC in the May elections and deciding to organise along the value chain, rather than sticking within an industry.
Nzimande’s call for the league to focus on the “recruitment and ideological education of young workers”, and to play its role against the current “wave of demagoguery”, was made amid his scathing overview of the “anti-majoritarian, often racist, liberal offensive whose objective is regime change to dislodge the liberation movement from power”.
Thus the EFF was “neo-fascist, demagogic and populist” - the party only brought hooliganism to Parliament, Nzimande said - the DA was “deeply divided”, with a “white brat-pack… deeply angry against Helen Zille, who they see as imposing black leaders on them”, and Numsa “a leadership clique alliance” of workerists, who never wanted the tripartite alliance, and “our own factory faults”, a reference to ex-SACP members.
All that united the disparate elements in these groupings was “their hatred of the ANC”.
The league must not be “a manga-manga, fong-kong” body, and must not only conduct political education, but take up issues facing youth, from unemployment, poverty, education and skills training, to HIV/Aids and the fight against crime and corruption.
The delegates headed to behind-closed-doors talks on its “new deal for working class black and poor South African youth”. Discussion documents call for concrete campaigns, and practical steps, for quality free public education, and skills training, and youth entrepreneurism. The league is looking to mobilise participation in popular governance structures.
Political Bureau