Cosatu Throws Weight Behind ANC for 2024 Elections As Ramaphosa Calls for Strengthening of Tripartite Alliance

• Labour federation Cosatu has decided to back its tripartite alliance partner, the ANC, ahead of the 2024 elections
• President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed the importance of strengthening the alliance with Cosatu and SACP
• Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi said that unity was needed within the alliance to ensure the ANC retains power

Bethlehem - With the 2024 national elections fast approaching, labour federation Cosatu has thrown its weight behind the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

President Cyril Raamaphosa calls for strengthening of tripartite alliance

This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa called for strengthening the tripartite alliance with Cosatu and the SACP during the Cosatu May Day Rally on Monday, 1 May.

The rally occurred in Bethlehem, Free State, where Ramaphosa joined Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi and SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila.

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Cosatu president calls for federation to back ANC

During her address at the rally, Losi echoed Ramaphosa's calls telling thousands of workers that unity was needed in the build-up to the much-anticipated elections.

Though workers are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, Losi said that only a strengthened alliance would clinch victory for the ANC in 2024, SABC News reported.

Losi said:

“We must go to elections in 2024, our most difficult elections since 1994, united and determined to defend the many gains that workers have won since 1994."

Both Cosatu and the SACP have long bemoaned being side-lined by the ANC regarding decision-making processes and called for a reconfiguration of the alliance.

Cyril Ramaphosa promises to meet with Cosatu and SACP

President Ramaphosa said that the ANC would meet with the SACP and Cosatu to decide how to strengthen the tripartite alliance, reported IOL.

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Ramaphosa said:

"We need to sit down together to discuss the alliance, how we can strengthen it, how we can reconfigure it so that this alliance continues to lead the attainment of the National Democratic Revolution.”

South Africans displeased with Cosatu's support of the ANC

Below are some comments:

@RamafaloMoses said:

"It is obvious that they'll back ANC in the election in order to get ministerial positions at the detriment of the workers."

@gnxumalo1 accused:

"Let's see what the affiliates say, and those top bras are eyeing positions in parliament. They are looking after their stomachs."

@TladiNtate warned:

"They're in for a rude awakening come 2024."

@jazzymeropa added:

"Well, there's no surprise there."

@ClaudeteAdams criticised:

"Cosatu is clearly here for the ANCs agenda, not Workers!"

@mandlahl commented:

"Workers sold again."

Numsa slams ANC for “29 wasted years”, saying Workers’ Day comes as SA battles poverty and unemployment

In another story, Briefly News reported that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) took a swipe at the ANC for wasting 29 years.

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This comes as the country celebrates International Workers' Day on Monday, 1 May. Still, Numsa claims that the holiday comes as South Africa is contending with high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

The union said the working class gave the ANC government a mandate through the 1994 elections. However, the party could not rise to the occasion after almost three decades in power, TimesLIVE reported.

Source: Briefly News