The Future of the Tripartite Alliance and the re-making of the South African Left

Описание: Despite internal tensions, the Tripartite Alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and the South African Communist Party (SACP) has held together for over thirty years and continued to act as the dominant force in post-Apartheid politics. Recent years have seen a serious heightening of internal conflicts however. Most of the troubles stem from growing dissatisfaction with the leadership of the ANC, which has been accused of corruption, mismanagement, and a failure to address key issues such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment. At their congresses last year, both COSATU and the SACP lamented the growing dysfunction of the Alliance and considered the possibility of breaking away.

Notwithstanding its decline, the ANC remains overwhelmingly dominant in the electoral arena, particularly among working-class South Africans. As calls for a split grow louder among some parts of the Alliance - others continue to argue for it to be renewed and reconfigured through intensified internal struggle. How these debates play out will profoundly shape the future of the Left in South Africa.

In this panel, leading analysts and activists considered the past and future of the Tripartite Alliance. Has it worked and should it be saved? Are existing tensions reconcilable or insurmountable? And what does all of this mean for the South African left outside of the alliance?

The panellists were:

Lebogang Mulaisi, Head of Policy at COSATU and coordinator of COSATU's labour market policy implementation.

Phindile Kunene, programme manager for democracy and political culture at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) South Africa.

Dale T. McKinley, long-time political activist, researcher-writer and lecturer who works at the International Labour, Research and Information Group.

Basani Baloyi chaired the panel. Basani is the programme director for climate justice and resourcing rights realisation at the Institute for Economic Justice.

The panel took place at Breezeblock Café in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 20 March 2023. Event recorded by Shaeera Kalla and Neo Monyamane with Editing by Premilla Murcott