Johannesburg - The government is heading towards a dictatorship and could be on an identical road to that of Zimbabwe, says the Congress of South African Trade Unions in a hard-hitting attack on its alliance partner.
Cosatu said, as well, that the African National Congress government had developed an "alarming culture" that was ignoring its internal democratic processes.
This is the strongest language yet used by Cosatu to take its ANC partner to task.
The statement comes in the wake of a Cosatu central executive committee meeting (CEC) that ended on Wednesday.
The committee also decided this week to discuss at its September congress an SA Communist Party discussion document which, in effect, proposes an end to the alliance with the ANC.
The SACP document proposes that the party stand independently in the next general election.
This step is being considered by the SACP because the ANC government is claimed to be excluding the party from important decisions and is not acting in the interests of the working classes any longer.
Comparison with Zimbabwe
Cosatu's viewpoint on this matter will be published next week in an identical document.
This is the closest the junior partners in the alliance have come to even discussing an end to the alliance with the ANC
Addressing the media on Thursday on behalf of the CEC, general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said South Africa could be on an identical road to that of Zimbabwe.
He said: "Dictatorships do not announce themselves like a troupe of drum majorettes marching down the street."
He said the CEC thought there were several significant signs that South Africa was heading for a dictatorship.
Among them were:
# a recent ban on the viewing of an SABC programme which was allegedly critical of Mbeki;
# the abuse of state institutions "to get even with" individuals, such as the national prosecuting authority in the case of former deputy president Jacob Zuma;
# the use of selective leaks to the media to influence public opinion;
# the manner in which political opponents, such as the Zuma faction, were being "ousted" from state institutions such as the security services; and
# The arrest of Cosatu leaders at the Swaziland border and last week in Cape Town.
Vavi said: "This is exactly how the problems started there (in Zimbabwe)."
In addition, he said some ANC leaders were trying to undermine resolutions taken at the national council meeting in Pretoria last year.
Among these were the deterioration of workers' protection by labour legislation and a so-called "modernisation of the ANC".
Vavi said: "These proposals have been discussed and rejected.
Major businessmen
"There is a massive new project under way to force the ANC to the mid-left camp.
"The national executive committee (NEC) is today comprised of members of the cabinet and major businessmen.
"There are no representatives any longer of civil organisations or trade unions."
According to Vavi, big business had benefited from transformation in the past 12 years.
"We want a radical ANC that agrees to acceptable salaries, proper employment opportunities and true equality."
Woman president mooted
In a direct attack on Mbeki, the central committee also expressed its disgust at his recent statements that he would like to see a woman as his successor.
This was especially so after Mbeki had led the NEC meeting in which the ANC Youth League was taken to task because it had started "too early" debating the succession issue.
Vavi said: "It cannot be regarded as correct that certain hands are bound by protocol, but the president, himself, declares his personal preferences for his successor."
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DAAR'S NET EEN PAD OM TE LOOP,EN DIS DIE BOERVOLK SE PAD,SAAM MET DIE SKEPPER
'SA heading for dictatorship' 25/05/2006 14:16 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) voiced fears on Thursday that South Africa and the African National Congress (ANC) were drifting towards a dictatorship.
"Dictatorship never announces its arrival," Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in Johannesburg.
"It won't, like drum majorettes, beat drums and parade down the street to announce it has arrived."
Vavi was briefing reporters on the outcome of a Cosatu central executive committee meeting.
"The main concern of the committee centres on signs that we may be drifting towards dictatorship. This appears in the use of state institutions ... in narrow factional fights," he said.
"We see it in the use of sections of the media to assassinate the character of individuals through off-the-record briefings and the leaking of sensitive information in the hands of those charged to investigate crimes."
Cosatu will also investigate the link, if any, between security sector employers and ANC leaders.
Vavi said such a link, if found, "may help explain the apparent indifference of political leaders to the plight of security workers, in contrast to (their) eagerness to condemn them (strikers) at the slightest provocation".
Vavi was briefing the media in Johannesburg on the outcomes of a Cosatu central executive committee meeting which ended on Wednesday.
He said the CEC noted with disapproval that the public debate had focused on violence surrounding the strike, rather than the deplorable conditions in the security industry and other issues that had led guards to strike.
Cosatu called on all workers to support the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union security industry strike, which is now in its eighth week.
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DAAR'S NET EEN PAD OM TE LOOP,EN DIS DIE BOERVOLK SE PAD,SAAM MET DIE SKEPPER
