----------------------------------------

Press statement issued by the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

To receive future press statements go to http://gate.cosatu.org.za/mailman/listinfo/press

----------------------------------------

26 July 2001

Today, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress
of South
African Trade Unions (COSATU) held a successful national bilateral
meeting. This meeting took place in the context of a series of bilateral
and trilateral meetings between the ANC, SACP and COSATU. The
meeting also
took place as part of the lead-up to the ANC-SACP-COSATU Alliance
Summit
scheduled for 22 September.

In its agenda, this meeting discussed the following matters: -
- A joint reflection and assessment on the current political situation and
the context and its impact on the organised working class, the unemployed
and rural poor from a working class standpoint - The state, role and
political capacity of the trade union movement - The state, role and
political capacity of the SACP - A joint reflection on the relation
between the struggle to complete the national liberation of black people
and the struggle for socialism in our country and internationally

The SACP and COSATU agree that many important gains for working people and
the poor have been made since 1994, including progressive labour and other
legislation, outlawing of racism and repression, ongoing democratisation,
and the delivery of basic services to millions of our people.

However, these gains are often overshadowed by massive job losses over the
past seven years, one million in the formal sector. This week Statistics
SA has announced that the official unemployment figure has now risen to
26+ACU-, with the expanded definition of unemployment now at 38+ACU-.
Through casualisation, contracting out and outsourcing bosses are further
seeking to subvert our democratic social, political and economic gains.
Big companies are also not investing the profits produced by workers in
job-creation and development.

The SACP and COSATU agree that, fundamentally, the difficulties we are
encountering are a function of seeking to transform our society on the
terrain of a society, and a world, still dominated by capitalism.
However, the two formations agreed that as a movement we could have done
better. In particular, the 1996 adoption by government of the GEAR
policy, marked a significant policy shift and, in practice, an attempt to
use capitalist means to achieve the goals of our shared national
democratic vision. GEAR and the related privatisation programme have
failed to achieve the fundamental restructuring of our society, and in
many respects these policies have taken us backwards. We agreed that,
while there are serious policy disagreements, the alliance remains united
around its long term vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, united and
democratic South Africa. The alliance is the only vehicle capable of
achieving these objectives.

The meeting agreed that the way forward includes:

- The revitalisation of our organisations, including, in particular the
ANC itself. Tendencies to bureaucratisation, the dominance of state
technocrats in the policy process, and organisational careerism were
dangers highlighted. We need to ensure that our formations are much more
actively engaged on the ground, in the mobilisation of our mass base. -
Support for the COSATU campaign to defend and build a strong, extensive
public sector, including publicly-owned corporations. Both COSATU and the
SACP are opposed to privatisation of publicly-owned resources. - The
struggle against corruption and the abuse of public office. Our two
formations will be working with the ANC to ensure that we are much more
pro-active in dealing decisively with these problems. Corruption,
particularly from those in public office, undermines our liberation
struggle, and is essentially the plundering of public resources. - The
detailed elaboration of much more effective industrial sector policies and
programmes +IBM- including the transformation of the financial sector. -
The building of an extensive social protection net +IBM- including major
land reform, the provision of social services including affordable public
transport, a basic income grant, and the transformation of existing
resources, like the R2,3 billion a year Road Accident Fund.

The meeting expressed support and solidarity with striking workers,
including those in Eskom and in the mining sector.

Further meetings are planned to carry forward our discussions and
programme of action.

CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara +IBM- SACP +IBM- 083 651 0271
Pat Craven - COSATU +IBM- 082 821 7456

Patrick Craven and Moloto Mothapo
Acting COSATU Spokespersons

[email protected]
082-821-7456
339-4911

*********************************************************

Visit the COSATU web site at http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/latest.html for copies of our most recent press statements.

Get free e-mail for union members. Visit www.union.org.za and sign up now! It's free!

COSATU takes steps to ensure that any attachments are free from
viruses. You should, however, carry out your own virus check before
opening any attachment. COSATU accepts no liability for loss or
damage caused by software viruses.

***********************************************************

----------------------------------------

Contact 082-821-7456 Patrick Craven or Moloto Mothapo for further comment.

Visit the COSATU web site at http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/latest.html for copies of our most recent press statements. For the full archive go to: http://www.cosatu.org.za/press/archive.html.

Get free e-mail for union members. Visit http://www.union.org.za and sign up now! It's free!

COSATU takes steps to ensure that any attachments are free from viruses. You should, however, carry out your own virus check before opening any attachment. COSATU accepts no liability for loss or damage caused by software viruses.

----------------------------------------

Press mailing list
[email protected]
http://gate.cosatu.org.za/mailman/listinfo/press