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‘ANC must prioritise people or expect electoral losses in 2024’ — Cosatu’s Zingiswa Losi

Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi says the ANC must overcome the 'cancer of corruption'. File image.
Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi says the ANC must overcome the 'cancer of corruption'. File image.
Image: Thulani Mbele

The ANC’s fate in the 2024 provincial and national elections will be determined by how it behaves ahead of its national conference in December, says Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Zingiswa Losi.   

The behaviour must be seen to prioritise the people of SA and the working class. Failure may result in the country being governed through coalitions, she said.

“If we fail to defend the ANC, if we fail to defend the alliance, to reconfigure this alliance, the results of the local government elections, we are going to find them in the national elections. Comrades, there is no government in coalition.”

She was addressing the federation’s shop stewards council in Polokwane on Thursday, alongside ANC deputy president David Mabuza, before the ruling party’s 110th birthday celebration.

The remarks come nearly two months after the party took a beating at the local government elections in November, securing only 46% of the national vote and recording its worst electoral performance since the end of apartheid. 

The decline in support led to the loss of some of the country’s richest municipalities, including Johannesburg and Tshwane, which were once regarded as its strongholds. 

Losi said this ought not to happen again.

“We need a decisive victory in the general elections, hence it is important for us to jealously guard what happens in our movement.

Commenting on the first instalment of the state capture inquiry report handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa this week, Losi said the ANC must overcome the “cancer of corruption”.

“SA and workers are bleeding. Many of these blunders are our own creation. Workers are looking to us as the federation and the ANC to protect them, to fix these crises,” she said. 

The ANC belongs to the working class. We dare not let it die. We cannot let it fail. We must fix what is broken and defend our achievements.
Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi

“We must do our best before it is too late. We have that responsibility.

“We are saying the ANC is ours. We agree and admit the ANC has made many blunders, but we must also acknowledge the major victories that have improved the lives of 60-million South Africans, in particular workers.”

She said the ANC was the only party that has consistently and honestly championed the needs of the poor and the working class.

The federation would ensure the movement does not die, she added.

“Our challenges are immense, comrades, but we cannot afford to be despondent or  complacent or give up. It is only Cosatu and the alliance who can defend the movement and the lives of workers.

“The ANC belongs to the working class. We dare not let it die. We cannot let it fail. We must fix what is broken and defend our achievements.”

Losi also took a swipe at ANC leaders who have previously attacked the judiciary.

“When workers are caught stealing in a supermarket because their social grant has been taken away, they go to court to represent themselves. It cannot be the same judiciary tomorrow that must be different for politicians to that of ordinary workers in SA.”  

TimesLIVE


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