Touching a raw nerve

THE civil society movement that came into being under the Cosatu banner two weeks ago clearly struck a raw nerve.

The ANC reacted vehemently to the "declaration" the trade federation and other civil movements - mainly the Treatment Action Campaign and Section27 - issued after the conference.

Even ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who usually chooses his words very carefully before criticising the left wing in the alliance, decried the civil organisations.

Why would the creation of organisations wanting to work together to exercise pressure and strive for better service delivery to citizens upset the ANC so badly?

The statement issued after the conference by the three largest organisations representing 60 participating groups was generally temperate.

Throughout, sentiments with which the ANC should readily agree were expressed. To tell the truth, it was a rather dull and boring document.

Health services - or the lack thereof - took up a great deal of time at the civil society conference.

The declaration affords them considerable time: it includes a warning about creating a new bureaucracy that would become another feeding trough for the predatory elite.

The organisation also asks government to produce a clear policy document on its national health insurance plan, so that the policy can be discussed in an open and transparent manner.

Similar utterances are also made about education. The organisation wants to launch a campaign that ensures better-functioning schools and improved teacher training.

All public representatives (politicians) are asked to enrol their children in state schools and use public health services.

The most radical pronouncements are made on corruption.

It's essential to hold more meetings between Cosatu and civil organisations and create institutions to fight corruption, states the declaration.

In it, the organisations also declare their opposition to the protection of information bill.

At the press conference, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi also repeated his reference to "hyenas" in elite black ANC circles.

Much-needed safety valve

This would surely have seriously annoyed one or two in the ANC and may even have led to a phone call or two to lawyers, but nothing that would justify an official statement by the ruling party.

However, a theme which runs like a golden thread through the declaration is that the 60 organisations want to work together; over a decade, they have learnt that they cannot depend on the government to relieve the plight of their members, and have reached the point where they themselves have to do something about it.

They are in agreement on a social justice charter, "which can be used as a campaigning tool to mobilise society, particularly workers and communities, around issues of social justice".

These are words that could send cold shivers through Luthuli House, because they are the same sentiments that in 1983 led to formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) – a broad front of civil organisations that initiated resistance.

The UDF was a headless beast that was able to break down the security structures of the old National Party government - and many of those currently sitting in ANC top structures thought up that strategy and applied it.

The civil organisations, including Cosatu, the TAC and Section27, have taken heed of the disorder in townships over the past two years, as well as dissatisfaction over other services, especially health and education.

They have realised that the discontent has no escape valve, and are planning to create outlets before the pressure becomes high enough to explode.

The township riots prove, more than anything anyone can say, the extent of the need for a outlet – and the ruling elite in the ANC knows this.

Cosatu anticipated the possibility of the ANC accusing it of creating an alternative, leftist political vehicle in the guise of a civil movement. For that reason neither the ANC nor the SA Communist Party were invited to the conference.

There was some mirth in Cosatu House over the ANC's sharp reaction, following which it said it was "shocked" at the ruling party's response.

Cosatu does not need anyone's permission to collaborate with organisations that care about the poor and the workers, says the declaration.

The TAC and Section27 held their own press conference to explain that their intentions were not political conspiracies to establish a new party.

No matter what they say, the reality is that the civil campaigns they hope to start are as close to a political campaign as dammit is to swearing.

The organisations will identify specific problems at micro level and support them at a macro level by trying to drum up campaigns – exactly as the UDM did in the 1980s under the old NP dispensation.

This will put the ANC under more pressure than anything to which the party has been subjected since it took up position in the Union Buildings in 1994.

If there is no response to the campaigns driven by the civil movement, these could very speedily evolve into a political movement – a movement aiming to take over power in the country.

The civil organisations, spearheaded by Cosatu, the TAC and Section27, are currently so active because they want to prove their mettle before next year's municipal elections.

 - Sake24