Tripartite alliance calls on ANC for RET, land reform

Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande were offering messages of support to the ANC in an open plenary session at the party’s national conference. 

This comes after ANC Youth League KwaZulu-Natal secretary Thanduxulo Sabelo suggested on Saturday that messages from alliance partners be heard in a closed session.

Dlamini spoke about the need for the ANC to be more deliberate in their policy adoption than just offering lip service, particularly where radical economic transformation is concerned.

''What is critical for Cosatu coming out of this conference is for the ANC to be firm on radical socioeconomic transformation.

''Radical socioeconomic transformation is not a new ANC policy adoption because we've been monitoring it and we have been quite uneasy, so we are hoping that that resolution will be realised.''

Amongst many suggestions Dlamini said radical economic transformation should be implemented through the National Health Insurance (NHI), mining sector transformation and land reform. 

Nzimande offered a more scathing message to the ruling party, calling the leadership to be more honest with the challenges currently facing both the ANC and the country.

''We must not deny the challenges facing us as a country and as a movement.

''It's not automatic that after every 20 years, liberation movements in power begin to filter, we must look at the reasons why.

''We know that there are also regime changes, but we must also be looking at ourselves and say are we not making mistakes that will be used by our enemies in order to effect a regime change agenda?''

The messages of support came amid recent tensions between the alliance partners. 

In May, Cosatu members booed Zuma at a May Day rally in Bloemfontein in the Free State, while Cosatu banned President Jacob Zuma from addressing all its events.