On the second day of Cosatu’s eighth National Congress, the congress got down to the work of dissecting the 2015 plan document. Whilst all affiliates were in support of the 2015 plan document, different affiliates took turns in pointing out what they felt was missing from the document. Num broke the ice by pointing out that the labelling of the continual disagreements within the alliance as “inherent tensions” as alluded in the 2015 plan, creates an impression that tensions are built into the relationship of the allies. Nehawu felt that Cosatu should guard against the document degenerating into an instrument of labelling within the alliance as happened in the recent past. Ceppawu felt strongly that the plan should be forceful on interventions as opposed to monitoring and policing of the national democratic revolution. Both Ceppawu and Denosa believed strongly that a clear implementation strategy should be formulated as soon as possible, in order to ensure that the plan does not remain a plan on paper only. The Communications Workers Union further added that the 2015 plan must be integrated into the SACP’s medium term vision. Numsa warned that the plan may become meaningless if the theoretical analysis that is contained in it, is not connected to service to members by all Cosatu affiliates. Numsa further voiced its concern about the lack of coverage of socio-economic issues within the 2015 plan. By the same token Popcru pointed out that the document falls short when it comes to the total transformation of the state machinery. Popcru passionately appealed to congress to deal with the prevailing situation where policemen and women cannot publicly campaign for the political party of their choice, in particular the ANC. The most serious word of warning came from the South African Communist Party that called upon congress to be wary of presenting the SACP as the co-manager of capitalism, or importing socialism that is designed to address conditions that prevail elsewhere. It emphasised the importance of customising socialism to suit living conditions as they exist in South Africa . There were no sharp differences on the thrust of the 2015 document, therefore congress adopted the plan with great ease. The great challenge for the congress now is to formulate a programme of implementation out of the 2015 plan, the task that has been set out loudly and clearly by Madisha, the president of Cosatu.
