The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in Mpumalanga convened an extended political commission meeting on the 9th – 10th March 2020 in Witbank. The political commission was convened to analyse the political situation in the province, nationally and internationally.
On the first day, the political commission received three presentations from the tripartite alliance including a political input from the General Secretary of NEHAWU, Cde Zola Saphetha. The South African Communist Party [SACP] made a presentation on the provincial balance of force and the tasks of building the left popular front. The African National Congress [ANC] made a presentation on making organisational renewal a reality in building unity and cohesion of the left axis. Lastly, our federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions [COSATU], made a presentation on the key political tasks in building a militant and vibrant COSATU in the Mpumalanga province.
The political commission robustly engaged all presentations including the political input by the General Secretary. The political commission vigorously debated ways to advance and deepen the struggle towards the attainment of socialism and the total obliteration of the capitalist mode of production. A clarion call was made for the tripartite alliance to work in unison for the complete eradication of the triple challenges of abject poverty, deepening inequalities and unemployment. It is only through the unity of the alliance that we can liberate our people from the bondage of the triple challenges. The current capitalist onslaught necessitates a coordinated campaign to decisively confront all forms of exploitation, privatisation and agencification of the state.
The political commission emphasised the fact that the SACP has the important task of guiding the working class to wage the struggle to its logical conclusion and the urgent need for the ANC to do a proper analysis of its organisational renewal tasks. The refocusing of the National Democratic Revolution [NDR] should be a primary task of all alliance partners including the implementation of the Nasrec resolutions and the ANC manifesto commitments.
Alliance partners were alerted about the reckless and inciting statements that have been made by Treasury in relation to the hard won gains of public sector workers. The political commission reiterated the call by NEHAWU nationally for government to desist from such statements as they are viewed as a declaration of war. As NEHAWU in the province, we are ready for a mother of all wars should government decide to renege on the 2018 public service wage agreement. The call for the removal of Tito Mboweni as the Minister of Finance was echoed by the commission.
On the upcoming ANC provincial elective congress the political commission debated both extensively and robustly. In the end, the commission resolved that NEHAWU shall align itself with the decision taken by the Provincial Executive Committee [PEC] of COSATU of convening an urgent Provincial Commission where the issue will be discussed extensively as guided by the Central Executive Committee [CEC] decision of the federation. The commission further called on both COSATU and the SACP must convene the Deputy President of the ANC and former leaders of the alliance to intervene on the issue of Mpumalanga ANC paralysis.
The political commission noted the need to prioritise political education and deepening class consciousness. In this regard, we will work with COSATU and the SACP in ensuring that a political school is convened by June 2020 as adopted by COSATU PEC and such a program will also be rolled out in all four regions and branches of the union as part of deepening our class consciousness.
NEHAWU will continue to build and strengthen relations with the Progressive Youth Alliance which comprises of the Congress of South African Students [COSAS], the South African Students’ Congress [SASCO] and the Young Communist League of South Africa [YCLSA] in the province. To this end, we will work hand in hand with other components of the alliance in developing a political education program for all the PYA formations in the province as part of cadre development.
Issued by the NEHAWU MPUMALANGA Provincial Secretariat For more information contact Welcome T Mnisi (Provincial Secretary) at 082 455 2897 or Dimakatso Matjee (Provincial Deputy Secretary) at 082 558 5977