South African unions refuse to call of strike in face of Mbeki red-baiting

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Unions defy ANC appeal to call off strike
By James Lamont in Johannesburg


Cosatu, South Africa's largest labour federation, on Monday defied appeals
by its government ally, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), to call
off a two-day national strike in protest at privatisation and job losses.
The strike, which begins on Tuesday, has opened a rift between Cosatu and
the ANC over the government's macroeconomic policy. It has prompted
President Thabo Mbeki to speak out against "ultra-left" elements, whom he
accuses of trying to force the government to follow a socialist agenda.
The ANC-led government has committed itself to the sale of state-owned
assets. It has pledged to go ahead with the initial public offering of
Telkom, the state-controlled telecommunications utility, on the Johannesburg
Stock Exchange by the end of March to restart a stalled privatisation
programme.
But Cosatu and the South African Communist party, the ANC's allies, are
vehemently opposed to privatisation and have warned that the state's
economic policy is responsible for a "bloodbath" of lost jobs. They want
state-owned companies to remain in government hands to bring utilities to
the black majority.
"We remain steadfastly unconvinced that the imperative of attracting more
capital to our economy justifies the social costs that accompany the
wholesale selling of our state's capacity for delivery to private hands,"
said Willie Madisha, Cosatu's president.
He claims the country cannot afford to lay off workers in state-owned
companies such as Telkom, Eskom, the electricity company, and Transnet, the
transport utility, when South Africa's unemployment rate is officially
estimated at 30 per cent. "Those who lose work find it impossible to ever
work again," he said.
The government's privatisation programme has faltered since the emerging
markets crisis of 1998. In some areas, it has gone into reverse. This year
the state re-nationalised South African Airways by buying back a stake it
had previously sold to Swissair. It has also cancelled the sale of forestry
assets on corporate governance concerns.
Mr Mbeki has become increasingly frustrated with policy differences between
the ANC and its electoral partners. At an ANC national policy conference at
the weekend, he proclaimed: "The ultra-left strives to abuse our internal
democratic processes to advance its agenda against policies adopted by our
most senior decision-making structures. "The ANC is not a movement whose
mission is to fight for the victory of socialism."


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