The SACP Gauteng top brass were elected uncontested for the third time since they became party officials in 2012.
Provincial secretary Jacob Mamabolo, chairperson Joe Mpisi and first deputy secretary Mpapa Kanyane retained their positions during an elective conference held in Kempton Park from Friday until yesterday, where the party’s general secretary Blade Nzimande was the keynote speaker.
Nzimande used the conference to warn that organised labour would not succeed in its battles if it continued to be fragmented.
The country’s major trade union federations, Cosatu and Saftu, have been at each other’s throats over the proposed national minimum wage, which has been agreed to by Cosatu at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) at R3500 per month.
Saftu has lashed out at the agreement, calling it “slave and poverty wages”, and accused Cosatu of colluding with the government in order to deceive workers.
The new federation, which is yet to join Nedlac, has instead called for a “living wage”, insisting that no person could be expected to live on the amount agreed to, which will see workers paid around R20 per hour.
While in support of the minimum wage, Nzimande called on the SACP to take up its vanguard role and unite the labour movement.
“The Communist Party is not a sectarian organisation. We must do our best to reach out to labour everywhere, and at all the times to achieve working-class unity. It is crucial to work hard to unite the trade union movement as a whole,” Nzimande said.
“If the trade union movement cannot, for now, unite under a single umbrella federation, it should at least agree to become united behind the common demands of the workers in the best interests of the workers.
“This is the programme the SACP is pursuing and will be deepening towards greater working-class unity,” he said.
Last week, Nzimande slammed Saftu as “infantile and ultra-leftist” for demanding a “living wage”.
He said he, however, supported the current bus strike, saying the party was in solidarity with the industrial action by bus drivers, who are demanding a hefty wage increase.