Sadtu president lashes govt
2010-10-06 15:45
Johannesburg – The current government were "nationalists" and concerned only with classifying and declassifying information, Sadtu president Thobile Ntola said on Wednesday.
"Its (government's) priority is the classification and declassification of information," he told the SA Democratic Teachers Union in Bokburg.
"They are not worried about poverty... they are worried about hiding information about tenders... they are worried about the fact that the media will expose all these things so they must be gagged."
Ntola also took a hard line on calls in the ANC for disciplinary action to be taken against alliance leaders.
"We must vow that no leader of the communist party or no leader of Cosatu speaking on behalf of their organisations will then be taken to the disciplinary committee of the ANC. Over our dead bodies," he said.
Political hyenas
This followed calls by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema for disciplinary action to be taken against Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi over the danger of "political hyenas".
Vavi was expected to address the congress later on Wednesday afternoon.
Ntola declared that the alliance would be the strategic centre of power despite the ANC repeatedly saying that it was the centre of power in the ruling alliance with Cosatu and the SACP.
"They can make noise in public and in the media, we will get what we want," he said, adding that this fight would be fought in the streets and not in the board room.
"We are not expecting to be election fodder for a few individuals."
Swell the ranks of the SACP
Ntola urged delegates at the congress to swell the ranks of the SACP because it was clear that this government "is not desperate for socialism".
The SACP must be strengthened so that socialism could be realised in this lifetime, he said.
Ntola told delegates they should be the "change agents" and not become corrupt themselves when they joined the ANC.
He criticised government's stance on education, saying: "Education was declared a priority by the current administration... this is just a public relations stunt."
The largest teachers union had to prioritise the resourcing of schools in the next year and had to ensure that all schools – public and model C schools – were resourced equally.
Teach well
He further chastised teachers saying their main priority had to be to teach and to teach well.
"We can't be champions of only strikes for salaries and not for teaching and learning.
"All is not well if you don't teach."
Ntola said teachers must master the art of teaching effectively and fighting for socialism at the same time in the next five years.
He said the working class would take the ANC to 2012.
ANC of the working class
"The ANC must become the ANC of the working class, not the ANC with the working class buyers.
"The ANC is our weapon. If it does not want to do it, it will do it screaming... we can't allow the ANC to be used as a spoon to feed individuals and leaders."
On the recent public sector strike Ntola said government did not give union demands the urgency it deserved because their children were in private schools and they used private hospitals and were protected by private security companies.
Earlier Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga was heckled by some delegates at the Sadtu congress.
She sat with her arms folded and a stony expression on her face as Ntola delivered his political report.
- SAPA
