Guiding you through the political section
Of rocky relationships, GEAR vs international ‘loan sharks’, adapting to new conditions of struggle and read, read, read!
Relations between alliance partners often invite analogies of marriage and divorce. Like a jealous lover, the Zuma saga threatens the rocky relationship once again. In this political section of the Bulletin, we include a ‘marriage contract’ that was drawn up before the ‘jealous lover’ entered the scene. Reread it to remind yourself of what was agreed at the Alliance Summit in April 2005. Pull out the commitments and give a score on how far the Alliance has delivered on its promises.
An interview with ANC Secretary General, Kgalema Motlanthe gives some interesting insights into how the ANC is adapting to conditions ‘post struggle’. Will we see the alliance of the future reduced to a ‘political centre’?
Go to a union meeting on the economy and the chances of hearing “Phansi i-Gear!” are high. But in an interview with Motlanthe, the ANC leader spells out the difficulties that the organisation faced when it took power. He likens managing your personal finances with government managing its finances. And just like a person, if the government is not careful, it too “can end up with loan sharks” – not small ones like “BB Cash Loans” but big ones like the IMF and World Bank!
Numsa general secretary, Silumko Nondwangu, highlights a number of different issues for Numsa cadres to reflect on: Numsa’s congress last year urged the union to help “democratise and strengthen the alliance”. The GS spells out the difficulties that members could encounter in provinces where the alliance does not function well and where Cosatu members are viewed with suspicion by some in the ANC.
He also urges comrades to read, read, read (see what he advises you to read in the box below). Draw up a reading list for yourself, mark off the ones that you have read and understood and start reading those that you haven’t!
Things to read:
Where to find it
Tick when read
Now I can hold a political discussion
* the NDR
Numsa Bulletin 12-13 September 2004 for a summary of a joint Cosatu, SACP booklet
* Cosatu 2015 plan
get copies from your Cosatu region
* Freedom Charter
Numsa News No 3 2005
* SACP Medium Term Review
get a copy from your local office
* Mbeki on social corporatism
Read the summary of Mbeiki’s letters in this Bulletin . If you want to read more on social corporatism, read the article in this Bulletin on Ireland as well as the table summarising the differences between Cosatu and the ANC’s views on the two economies.
* Declaration of the Alliance Summit (April 2005)
In this Bulletin.