Cyril Ramaphosa vows after Manashe was chased away by unions

Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of the ANC, has vowed to restore what appears to be broken relations between the ruling party and its alliance partner Cosatu.

He claimed that because of the blood of those who came before them, the coalition, which includes the SACP, was too large to fail.

Workers’ refusal to allow ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe to address their national congress in Midrand, Gauteng, during the week. This exposed rifts between the two alliance partners.

Mantashe was chased away from the congress by delegates representing various unions of workers. They sang “Hamba Gwede” as they did so.

They had expressed anger with the ANC and its administration for, among other things, not putting the 2018 public sector wage deal into effect.

Speaking to ANC supporters at a Letsema campaign over the weekend in Kimberley, Northern Cape, Cyril Ramaphosa said the alliance was dealing with “enormous issues” that needed to be resolved.

And only recently, Ramaphosa stated, “we have seen our steadfast ally Cosatu raising a lot of concerns and issues. These are issues that we are going to have to address, we are going to have to have a meeting with our partners, and I have all these issues.”

We don’t have a paper alliance with whom we can play games, we have a strategic alliance. This alliance was built through struggle, and our people’s blood is there throughout its entire structure. We must ensure that the alliance stands firm, cohesive, and unbroken. We will not permit this.

He asserted that those who believed the embarrassing events at Cosatu’s congress indicated the alliance’s impending dissolution were gravely mistaken.

“Some claim that this signals the end of the alliance. You haven’t seen anything yet. The partnership will become much more powerful.

Zingiswa Losi, who was re-elected unopposed as Cosatu president, had warned the ANC that workers were not going to allow employers, in the private sector, government, or state-owned entities to “undermine collective bargaining facing the wrath of the workers”.

Ramaphosa said the ANC was not going to let the alliance split as the issues Cosatu was raising, including the wage agreement sticking point, could be resolved.

“We are not going to allow the alliance to fade into history. This is too important. And, without the alliance, this country will be in trouble,” he said.

“Yes, we disagree on a variety of things. Comrades, those disagreements are not insurmountable, they are differences that we can resolve, whether it be the difference over the 2018 salary that was not implemented or the disagreement over policy ideas. These variations will be discussed.

“We won’t let this alliance crumble, and we won’t let it be torn apart. Those who are jubilant and believe that this coalition has fulfilled its purpose haven’t seen anything yet. You are unaware of the goals and potential of this collaboration. Therefore, candidates, those issues will be resolved.

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