Johannesburg - Nehawu president Mzwandile Makwayiba has taken aim at Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and ANC head of economic transformation Enoch Godongwana, accusing them of being enemies of South Africa’s working class.
This comes as the debate over expanding the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank continues to divide the ANC-led alliance.
Mkwayiba was delivering his address at the union’s first day of national policy conference in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
He said while people were allowed to warm up to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership, they had no choice but to abide by the ANC’s adopted resolutions, including the nationalisation and expansion of the mandate of the central bank.
“What is wrong when we change the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank to create jobs for South Africans? What is the decision of the ANC in Nasrec about the Reserve Bank? Who has the right not implement the resolution of the conference? Let us leave our friends aside. Let us discuss the principle. What is the decision of the ANC on the Reserve Bank?” Makwayiba asked.
Makwayiba called for the financial support and protection of the SACP by unions, which he said must be used as a vehicle to fight for worker interests.
“It is the responsibility of unions, including Nehawu, to make sure that we give resources to the SACP and look after it. If this party is going to get money from Motsepe or Tito Mboweni and Enoch Godongwane, it is not going to be our party. It is going to be the party of the bourgeois class,” Makwayiba.
He accused Mboweni and Godongwana of betraying the working class by campaigning for the SARB to remain in the hands of the private sector.
“I regard them as the enemy of the working class,” he said.
He said dictatorship could be one of the solutions to ensure that real transformation is effected puppets are not installed.
“This thing of two terms… where are you going to finalise a revolution in ten years? Where have you seen a revolution of ten years?” he asked.
Makwayiba said the conference had to also look at the electoral growth of the EFF and the Freedom Front Plus while the ANC was suffering a decline.
“We lost all important metros. We just come from election now and we are declining. Is this not clearly an indication that our movement seems to follow the footsteps of other liberation movements on the continent? This conference must help us to find a solution and a remedy to deal with those matters and make sure that when we finish here we are able to contribute,” he said.