ANC secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe, began his address by pledging solidarity with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan .
He said the first challenge within the alliance is “to pursue unity within the alliance”. He also said cohesive structures “should be confident and work together”. He went on to say that unity depends on the cohesiveness of the components of the alliance partners.
Cosatu can be cohesive but if the affiliates are not strong there can be no progressive working class he said.
He also touched on the issue of the leaders that will be elected in this congress, that they must be strong, lead and give direction to the general membership. They must also have a broader understanding of the socio-economic issues.
Lastly he stressed that this congress bears the challenge of building Numsa and the force which will be able to play its part in the effort to unite the people of Africa because unity guarantees stability.
Jeremy Cronin, the deputy general secretary of the SACP, in his speech also covered the issue of unity in the alliance.
He spoke about how strong unions like Numsa were this year, in their fight for their own rights. He also quoted the words of a comrade from the public sector who said, “this is our government but sometimes it needs guidance.”
On September 16, the public sector gave that guidance to the government. Sometimes as an alliance we need to help each other to maintain unity .