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The South African Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Unions condemn in the strongest terms possible a fabric of faceless sources and the false information they peddled to the Gupta-owned newspaper, ‘The New Age’ concerning a bilateral meeting held between the two alliance partners on Monday.

It is quite clear that the propaganda mouthpiece of the Guptas is pushing for their interests and that this agenda includes information peddling in our movement to sow divisions and thrive against the backdrop of disunity.

The SACP and COSATU dismiss as fabrications all the information spread by ‘The New Age’ (26 April 2017) attributed to faceless “sources with knowledge of deliberations at the meeting”. The SACP and COSATU wish to make it very clear that they will never question each other’s bona fides. The SACP and COSATU respect each other’s independence, will uphold it and strengthen complimentarity between the two working class alliance partners. 

The Monday bilateral meeting between our two formations reaffirmed the joint programmes and campaigns agreed to at our previous bilateral meetings. This included a joint SACP and COSATU job summit, joint efforts to push for the National Economic Development and Labour Council to convene a national job summit, and joint work to push for a faster pace towards a successful implementation of the National Health Insurance and to defend it from corporate capture. The meeting agreed on the importance for fostering principled unity based on a common programme within the ranks of the working class movement and the tripartite alliance.

The SACP and COSATU further agreed that the SACP and COSATU must jointly engage the African National Congress for an urgent Alliance Political Council meeting. The meeting agreed on Workers’ Day programme of joint wok and concluded in agreement for the SACP and COSATU to meet again in the next two weeks.

Issued by SACP and COSATU