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Polity
Article by: Sapa
Published: 28 Jan 2009
Cosatu silent on ANC corruption - Cope
Many members of the ruling party are involved in corruption but trade union federation Cosatu keeps silent on it instead targeting those who do not support ANC president Jacob Zuma, Cope said on Wednesday.

Congress of the People spokesman Siyanda Mhlongo was responding to accusations in a booklet entitled "Defend our Movement: Advance the Gains of Polokwane! Expose and Isolate the Black DA".

It was printed and distributed by the Congress of SA Trade Unions.

The booklet accuses Cope's president Terror Lekota and his deputy Mbhazima Shilowa of leaving the ANC to "pursue an agenda... of the capitalist class".

"Their role is to dislodge a progressive ruling party that has the support of the majority and impose the agenda of international capital and its local allies.

"It's no accident that almost all the dissident leaders, including former trade unionists, are now wealthy business people."

The 14-page document -- penned by Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi -- accuses Lekota and Shilowa of using leadership positions in the ANC, the SA Communist Party and Cosatu, to accumulate wealth and dispense patronage.

"They and some of their families benefited from what we now call the '1996 Class Project' which imposed neo-liberal, pro-business and pro-rich Gear policy in the late 1990s.

"They are beneficiaries of the narrow BEE policy that has given a small number of Africans shares in big companies."

These policies, they say, led to the retrenchment of thousands of workers.

"The very people who, with their capitalist allies, are now mobilising for the dissidents were the most enthusiastic promoters of the pro-capitalist policies that caused all these problems.

"They know however that to win support they cannot openly proclaim support for a blatant pro-capitalist project. So they seek demagogically to exploit whatever social grievances they can find amongst the people, grievances that result from the very policies they imposed while they were in government."

Cosatu said Cope's strategy was to demobilise the mass movement, "reducing ANC members into spectators and voting cattle".

Mhlongo, however, claimed that many senior ANC officials were corrupt but that Cosatu had made no mention of it in their booklet.

"Members of the ANC have a right to engage in private businesses but what Cosatu is doing now is selectively targeting those who do not support Zuma.

"They are keeping silent about ANC corruption. Cosatu has never said anything about the awarding of loans to the wives of the ANC elite and other top officials.

"Cosatu has not said anything about the purchasing of a scanner at R1,5 million, which cost only R425,000. They say nothing about giving ANC staff members in eThekwini a R20 million tender for grass cutting and waste removal,

"Cosatu has not said anything about the privatisation of certain municipal buses to the consortium that involved one of Jacob Zuma's bodyguards and the taxi industry..."

Mhlongo also alleged that the family of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik benefited from the 1996 class project.

"Why then is Cosatu selectively criticising Terror Lekota and Shilowa and leaving out those in the ANC?" he questioned.

Mhlongo said the ruling party had abandoned its moral character by dissolving the Scorpions, intimidating judges and attacking those who do not support Zuma.

"We are convinced that whatever Cosatu may say, the truth will prevail and we will all know that it is Jacob Zuma who has a case to answer," Mhlongo said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Cosatu vowed to distribute its anti-Cope booklet to as many people as possible.

Dozens of the maroon booklets -- bearing ANC and Cosatu logos -- were available at Cosatu and ANC offices in KwaZulu-Natal this week.

The document also said that Cope could cause "great damage" to Cosatu if it were to come to power after the general election.

"If these dissidents succeed, it will roll back the gains workers and the poor have made since 1994... unless we defeat it, even this small splinter could cause great damage to our movement," it reads.

"The launch of (Cope) poses a big challenge to workers and the national liberation movement. It could confuse and divide voters, cause enough damage to reduce the ANC majority in Parliament... and put the brakes on policies to create jobs, cut poverty and improve the lives of South Africans."

Luzipho said the booklet's aim was to "set the record straight" so voters would not be confused.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven confirmed that the booklet had been written by Cosatu office bearers and signed off by Dlamini and Vavi.

He stressed that what Cope was fighting for was "pure hypocrisy".

"What they were fighting for in the ANC is now what they are fighting against in Cope... They even went to the extent of borrowing portions of the ANC manifesto to woo voters."

Craven said Cope had made it clear that it wanted to move away from affirmative action, which would negatively affect workers.

He said three million booklets had been printed in six different languages and would be used in the ANC election campaign.

He said Cosatu had referred to Cope as the "black DA" because its policies were very similar to the Democratic Alliance.

"Cope represents the BEE millionaires, whereas the DA represents the white millionaires, but they both are united in their defence of big business."