The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday said it will no longer take a "triumphalist" approach to the outcomes of the ANC's Polokwane conference.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday said it will no longer take a "triumphalist" approach to the outcomes of the ANC's Polokwane conference.

Speaking after the federation's central committee meeting, general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said: "In the first two months after Polokwane, Cosatu and the SACP committed the mistake of celebrating and admiring the work of the new ANC leadership... This was a mistake.

"When that leadership makes mistakes and statements that have a potential of reversing the gains of Polokwane, Cosatu must speak out," Vavi said.

He said the honeymoon period between the election of Cosatu's preferred ANC candidate, Jacob Zuma, and the federation was over.

"The campaign to save the ANC from the clutches of technocrats who sought to bureaucratise the liberation movement was far from over.

"The 'rescue mission' post-Polokwane is on."

Vavi slammed what he termed the "rightwing backlash" seeking to divide the ANC leadership.

Referring to the DA urging President Thabo Mbeki to ignore the directives of the Polokwane conference, Vavi said this was out of fear of a "radical shift in the policy direction of our society". - Sapa