The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has vowed not to attend the upcoming Conference of the Left facilitated by the South African Communist Party (SACP), accusing the ANC-aligned party of shielding government policies that entrench austerity and privation.
The conference, scheduled for 29-31 May in Boksburg, has been billed by the SACP as a gathering of diverse leftist forces, including political parties, NGOs, community organisations, think-tanks and individuals.
Saftu rejects invitation to leftist gathering
Invitations were extended to formations such as Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, though many organisations have questioned whether MK can credibly be described as left.
Following a meeting of its political and ideological commission, comprising presidents and general secretaries of affiliated unions, alongside provincial representatives, Saftu announced it would not honour the invitation.
“For more than 30 years, the SACP has acted as a political shield and junior partner to successive ANC-led governments that implemented neoliberalism, austerity, privatisation, labour market attacks and anti-working-class policies,” it said.
“The social catastrophe confronting the working class today is inseparable from the class project the SACP helped sustain within the ANC-led alliance.”
SACP says conference aims to build unity
This week, the SACP defended its initiative, describing the conference as “the pinnacle of varied efforts of the forces of the left to realise positive outcomes from their diverse and sustained struggles over time”.
It stressed that the gathering was not intended to form a new political party or impose ideological uniformity, but rather to strengthen coordination, unity in action, political education and organised struggle among leftist and working-class formations.
Saftu, however, raised sharp objections to the inclusion of MK and other organisations it said contradicted values of nonracialism, democratic accountability, internationalism and socialist transformation.
“The normalisation of corruption, ethnic chauvinism, xenophobia and reactionary populism cannot be disguised as radical politics or working-class militancy,” the federation said.
‘We will not sit at the same table’
It also criticised the participation of chambers of commerce and business formations in what was billed as a leftist conference.
“Capital and labour do not share the same class interests,” Saftu said.
“We will not sit at the same table with right-wing forces, champions of neoliberalism, austerity, privatisation, corruption, xenophobia, ethnic chauvinism, patriarchy, misogyny and narrow nationalism in order to craft a programme allegedly aimed at liberating the working class from a crisis created precisely by these forces.”
Saftu was established by veteran trade unionist Zwelinzima Vavi and leaders from unions that broke away from Cosatu, including the militant National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Food and Allied Workers Union.
The federation emerged in opposition to Cosatu’s continued alliance with the ANC, which critics said entrenched neoliberal policies.
At its founding congress, Saftu pledged to remain independent of party politics while pursuing socialist-orientated policies, defending workers’ rights and maintaining a pan-African outlook.
