COSATU statement on the ANC NEC decision that members charged with corruption should step aside within 30 days

30 March 2021

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted and welcomes the ANC National Executive Committee meeting’s decision that all ANC members who are charged with corruption or serious crimes should step aside within 30 days, and if they fail, they will be suspended from the organisation. This is a positive step in the right direction, but the Federation has witnessed a lot of these encouraging steps only to see them falter during the implementation phase.

 Experience has taught us to await the implementation of this decision before making our final assessment of its significance. The organisation has attracted an army of vexatious litigants in its ranks who have used the judicial system to undermine organizational discipline and fight factional battles.

 The Federation believes that the successful implementation of this ANC NEC decision will go a long way in making the ANC, a more effective leader of society and a sharp instrument for fundamental change.

South Africa is challenged with a major crisis of crass materialism and corruption. The ANC, as a leader of society, has a responsibility to lead from the front to win this fight and eradicate this cancer, in its ranks, which is destroying the moral fibre of the organisation and also our society.

 The ANC NEC’s decision is significant because many ANC members and leaders do not support corruption and want an end to the politics of patronage, factionalism, careerism, and crass materialism.

We hope that this newfound assertiveness of the ANC can also be used to rein in the tiny minority of ANC leaders who believe that they are above the organisation and their word must be taken as policy. These “mavericks” are leading an onslaught against the working class in government and this is poisoning the political relations between the ANC and the workers.

Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 30 March 2021