Workers still have a role: Mbeki

2003-05-02 19:35

Cape Town - The close historic relationship between the ANC and the labour movement remains central to furthering South Africa's democracy, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.

Writing in the ANC's online newsletter, he said it was wrong to argue that black and progressive workers no longer had a role in the national democratic revolution.

One of the central tasks of this movement was the eradication of the country's racist legacy.

"The national democratic movement, of which the black workers have been and are an important constituent part, has to use its political power to address the other elements of racist domination.

"It has to use the victory it scored in the area of racism in politics, and therefore its access to state power, to secure new victories against racism in the economy, racism in the social sphere, racism in the institutions of state, and so on," he said.

Speaking during Workers' Day celebration on Thursday, Mbeki praised workers as the producers of wealth, but criticised union leaders for "forgetting" the legacies of the past.

The relationship between the leaders of the ANC's tripartite alliance partner, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), has strained over the past few years, particularly over the government economic programme, and its impact on jobs.

Workers' struggle continues In his letter on the ANC's website, Mbeki said it was incorrect to say that the black workers completed their task as liberation fighters when political power changed hands in 1994.

"Necessarily, their struggle for their own complete national emancipation has to continue."

There remained an interconnection between the national and the class struggles.

"The political victory of the democratic revolution has given the working class greatly improved possibilities to pursue its immediate class interests.

"The question that must be answered, practically, is what the tasks of the progressive workers are with regard to the accomplishments of the remaining strategic objectives of the national democratic revolution," he said.

- SAPA