Cosatu blasts ANC over ‘backroom deal’ with DA in government of national unity

Labour federation Cosatu has taken a sharp swipe at the ANC, accusing it of negotiating behind its alliance partners’ backs to broker a governing coalition with the DA — a party they characterise as “a sworn enemy of the workers and the poor”.

In a scathing critique of the Government of National Unity — contained in Cosatu’s political report prepared for its recently concluded 15th national congress held at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park — the federation rebuked the ANC for what it described as a betrayal of commitments and agreements made by alliance partners in the event of the ANC failing to win an outright majority after the 2024 general elections.

“After elections, the leadership of the ANC negotiated behind our backs as Alliance partners, making clandestine deals with the sworn enemy of workers and the poor, the DA. This is the DA that remains an anti-worker, anti-poor, and white supremacist organisation, funded by capital to pursue their interests,” the report states

“For instance, the DA has consistently not joined the May Day celebrations of Workers Day but staged infantile anti-workers and anti-trade union campaigns, attacking and slandering the Federation and the SACP, labelling us as enemies of the DA and enemies of business growth in South Africa,” the federation’s outgoing leadership wrote.

Multiparty government

Negotiated after the 2024 elections when for the first time the ANC failed to garner an outright majority, a multiparty government was formed consisting of the ANC and DA, the IFP, the PA, the FF Plus, UDM, Rise Mzansi, PAC, the GOOD party and Al Jama-ah.

However, there’s growing anger within the alliance over the coalition arrangement, as the DA has lately adopted a more oppositionist posture since Geordin Hill-Lewis ousted John Steenhuisen as DA leader.

An emotional ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula also took a swipe at the blue party after the ANC’s successful appeal of an IEC decision to exclude 181 of the party’s candidates — whose names were submitted after the cut-off time in August — from contesting elections across the country.

Speaking outside of the Constitutional Court, Mbalula called on other GNU partners to reassess and review the DA’s continued participation in the GNU due to it acting as second respondents in the matter, opposing the ANC’s application.

Search for partners

“The founding statement of intent of [the] government of national unity binds every partner to promote the constitutional framework of this Republic. To come to the Constitutional Court to argue against enfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of South Africans does not sit easily beside that understanding,” Mbalula said.

“We must look for other partners. There’s nothing that binds us to the DA forever,” he said shortly after the apex court ruled in the ANC’s favour.

The formation of the GNU has already put the tripartite alliance on shaky ground, and is often cited by SACP leaders as one of the reasons it is contesting the local government elections independently.

ANC’s pro-business agenda

Newly elected Cosatu president Mike Shingange told delegates this week that the federation would campaign for both the ANC and SACP, but criticised those who don’t put workers’ rights first.

In its political report, Cosatu said the ANC appeared to have taken “a facilitator role, playing the balancing act to manage the GNU, rather than a dominant majority party”.

It questioned whether the ANC would be able to implement some of the policies the DA has publicly opposed or challenged in court, including the National Health Insurance Act (NHI) and the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (Bela), while in a governing coalition with the same party.

“As a result, there seems to be a dilution of the ANC’s historical ideological posture and clarity, as it postures to compromise with the coalition partner, the DA,” the report said.

“It remains to be seen if even already promulgated transformative legislation on land reform [the Expropriation Act], or the [NHI], and … [BELA] will be implemented.

“This has intensified internal division, first in the ANC itself, between those who push for sustaining the GNU as a ‘pragmatic move to remain in power’, vis-à-vis those who opposed the grand coalition with the DA, seeing it as a betrayal of the ANC’s liberation legacy.”

The federation said the DA and the Freedom Front Plus had also condemned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to sign the Expropriation Bill into law, with the parties threatening further legal action.

Cosatu described the coalition as increasingly associated with a pro-business agenda, warning that the same shift was playing out in negotiations at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, where labour, government, business and civil society deliberate on economic policy.

It noted proposed amendments to the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, arguing that these threatened to reverse democratic gains in the workplace.

Among these were proposals that could allow workers to be dismissed without a hearing and representation.

It said big business was invested in keeping the GNU together because it viewed the arrangement as beneficial to economic stability and investment.

Alliance setback

Newly elected Cosatu general-secretary Zingiswa Losi said the 2024 elections resulted in a setback for the alliance as the ANC lost the electoral majority for the first time.

“This was worsened by the GNU grand coalition of the ANC and including the DA, further severely straining the Alliance.

“Congress affirmed the 8th Central Committee’s rejection of a GNU inclusive of right wing political parties and their neoliberal austerity agenda, even resulting in instances of threats to reverse workers’ and democratic gains,” said Losi.

“Congress resolved that all coalition agreements must be guided by a clear programme that protects collective bargaining, workers’ rights, public services and social protection. It also opposed coalitions that promote austerity, privatisation, outsourcing and measures that undermine workers’ rights.”