Cut loose ANC culprits or pay price at elections, warns Nehawu
THE National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), has warned that the ANC may arrive limping at next year’s general elections if the party does not totally dissociate itself from all those tainted by the VBS Mutual Bank looting scandal.
The union said it was not enough to remove ANC leaders from positions in public service, but to ban them from party activities in all provinces.
This week, the union held its last central executive committee meeting in which it concluded its work for the year and crafted a plan for 2019.
The Cosatu affiliate called for the full and immediate implementation of the ANC’s integrity commission’s recommendation that all ANC members implicated in the explosive VBS corruption saga be removed from all their responsibilities – both in the public service and within the party.
This comes as a dozen of mayors were fired in Limpopo on Tuesday for investing more than R2.6 billion with the now-liquidated VBS Mutual Bank, more than R1 billion of which is yet to be recovered.
The ANC’s Danny Msiza, who was dubbed by the Reserve Bank’s report as the kingpin behind the kickbacks given by VBS Bank officials to those who facilitated the depositing of municipal funds into the bank, also announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the ANC’s campaign before next year’s general elections would be tainted if it did not ban all the implicated from all ANC activities. “Equally, we support the recommendation that says those implicated should be directed by the national executive committee to step aside from all activities of the ANC.
“Nehawu holds a strong view that keeping such comrades in our midst creates a hazard to our campaign for votes in next year’s elections,” Saphetha said.
Nehawu said it would push through Cosatu for their key demands to be reflected in the ANC’s manifesto, which will be launched in Durban next month.
These include accelerated implementation of the National Health Insurance and Comprehensive Social Security, an end to outsourcing and a stand against privatisation especially at SAA and Eskom, among other issues.
Saphetha said the union was alarmed by the power crisis at Eskom which has led to the return of load shedding.
“While we applaud (former finance minister) Nhlanhla Nene for his refusal to commit the Treasury to the Zuma-Putin nuclear energy procurement deal, equally, a catastrophic development in the electricity sector was and is still unfolding involving the nuclear industry and the future of Eskom,” Saphetha said.
He said Nehawu would support Cosatu’s planned socio-economic strike in defence of Eskom’s coal electricity generation. “The National Union of Mineworkers sponsored the resolution because there is an ongoing privatisation of electricity generation through foreign-owned private independent power producers (IPPs) which Eskom is indirectly forced to subsidise,” Saphetha said.