The harassment of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the threat to deregister the militant and non-compromising trade union is completely unacceptable.

The department of labour's threat to deregister Amcu is given on the instruction of the ANC-led government on the eve of the elections because the ANC is jittery.

The threat is an empty one because the Cosatu-affiliated South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has squandered workers' money and is now bankrupt, but has not been threatened with deregistration.

There are perhaps other unions that have violated the law, but because they are affiliated to Cosatu, which is a lapdog of the ANC government, they have been let off scot-free.

I'm not suggesting that Amcu has violated the law. Amcu's leadership made it clear that they are compliant with the law. What I'm saying is that, if the department failed to act against a delinquent Samwu, it cannot act against a law-abiding Amcu. It is unacceptable for government departments to act in a partisan way.

Is it not time that the PAC gives moral and other support to Amcu irrespective of the differences certain individuals in the PAC have with Joseph Mathunjwa?

The department of labour should be admonished in no uncertain terms that the public will no longer brook a situation in which government departments are used to fight the ANC's political battles.

Sam Ditshego,Kagiso