South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and other alliance partners should help the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to restore its former glory in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said in Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa, speaking at the three-day 17th NUM congress on Wednesday, called on ANC alliance partners to intervene in the internal battles confronting the governing party in its factional issues.
While the ANC was suffering gradual decline at the polls, including in last year’s municipal elections, Ramaphosa hailed its alliance partners such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party for continuing to campaign for party during elections.
However, he said the alliance partners and trade unions needed to intervene in the internal woes plaguing the ANC – for the party’s survival depended on its renewal going forward.
“We want you not to hold back, to be upfront, critical and speak truth to power. For renewal to succeed, and for us to regain legitimacy, it is you who must tell the ANC to go back to the basics,” he said.
Ramaphosa said ANC structures and unions were going to their elective conferences this year, and there was a need to ensure that only those who were not tainted by malfeasance emerged as leadership.
“We have now developed a very progressive culture that, if leaders are found to have been involved in malfeasance, have been charged or found guilty in court, the step-aside policy must apply whether it is in the ANC, your unions or COSATU,” he said.
Over 680 delegates have gathered for the NUM congress that runs until Friday to select a new leadership.
NM/jn/APA