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SOUTH Africa’s trade union federation Cosatu called on all workers yesterday to turn out today to vote for the African National Congress in local government elections.
Cosatu said that workers have a responsibility to defend and consolidate gains made since 1994 “and also to stop political parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA) from taking us back to the dark ages.”
The union federation accused the DA of using dishonest tactics, “including using the name of the dead to make their lies sound true and win votes.”
This oblique comment refers to DA attempts to wrap itself in the clothes of the late ANC president Nelson Mandela.
“Using the name of the dead who cannot speak for themselves shows both the moral and political bankruptcy of this party.
“The DA is prepared to do almost anything to steal political power at the service of capital.”
Cosatu recalled that DA has proposed legislation that would effectively scrap the right to strike and has gone to court to challenge the extension of bargaining council agreements in South Africa to non-parties, seeking to block unorganised workplaces from sharing in the fruits of collective bargaining.
It also opposes the Employment Equity Bill, which is designed to redress racist job reservation policies, maintained through “competency certificates” that created a white workers’ monopoly of skilled operators’ posts and prevented black workers from winning promotioon to senior positions
“We know who liberated us, we know our enemies and the DA is surely not a friend of the workers and the working class,” said Cosatu, urging a vote for the ANC.