Secretariat Report to the 5th COSATU Central Committee 2011 Secretariat Report 2011 COSATU 5th CENTRAL COMMITTEE 1 Table of Contents PART I..............................................................................................................................9 Political Report to the 5th COSATU Central Committee ..............................................9 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................9 Key international developments ...................................................................................9 2. Challenges of Political Transformation ...................................................................... 10 3. Key Political Phases: A Summary ............................................................................. 11 Phase 1. Polokwane and the end of the Mbeki Era, the emergence of dual power: September 2007- September 2008........................................................................... 11 Phase 2. The Alliance honeymoon: December 2007 to mid 2009. ............................. 11 Phase 3. Fight back and contestation: mid 2009 to 2010. ..........................................12 Phase 4. Political paralysis: January to September 2010 ...........................................12 Phase 5. New development strategy and political ‘defeat’ of the predatory elite: September 2010 to February 2011. ............................................................................13 $QDO\VLQJWKH¿YHSKDVHV ...........................................................................................13 4. Developments in the Alliance Since the 10th COSATU Congress..............................16 4.1. Convergence in the Alliance 2008 to mid 2009: the Alliance honeymoon..............16 4.2. The Emergence of Political Contestation Post Polokwane ................................16 4.3. Alliance Summit November 2009 .......................................................................18 4.4. April 2010 bilateral with the ANC........................................................................18 4.5. Bilateral with the ANC NOB’s September 2010 .................................................20 4.6. ANC National General Council, September 2010 ..............................................21 4.7. The pre NGC political environment ....................................................................22 4.8. The NGC itself was a huge success! .................................................................24 4.9. Emerging consensus on the New Growth Path? ...............................................24 4.10. Disagreements on the strategic political centre .................................................26 4.11. Battle against corruption.....................................................................................28 4.12. Handling the differences or different nuances on nationalisation between COSATU and the SACP.....................................................................................28 4.13. ANC NEC Lekgotla, January 2011 .....................................................................29 4.14. 2011 Alliance Summit.........................................................................................31 4.15. Summary of the state of the Alliance at provincial and local level .................... 32 Secretariat Report 2011 COSATU 5th CENTRAL COMMITTEE 2 5.The NDR, Socialism and Building the South African Communist Party ................. 33 6.ANC Youth League .................................................................................................. 36 7. Engaging with Government Departments ................................................................ 37 ,QVWLWXWLRQDOLVLQJ:RUNLQJ&ODVV3RZHU7KH0DQGDWHRQ5HFRQ¿JXULQJWKH Alliance, the Pact, and Leadership...........................................................................39 8.1. Leadership ...........................................................................................................42 8.2. Deployment ..........................................................................................................43 8.3. What if we deadlock on this mandate? ................................................................44 8.4. The question of leadership...................................................................................45 8.5. An honest assessment .........................................................................................46 9. Mobilising Civil Society.............................................................................................47 9.1. Building campaign coalitions................................................................................48 9.2. Service delivery protests and social movements .................................................49 10. Local Government Elections ..................................................................................50 11. The Battle against Corruption and a Predatory Elite ............................................. 51 Corruption Watch ...................................................................................................55 12. Economic Policy Contestation and The New Growth Path ......................................57 12.1. New Growth Path ...............................................................................................59 12.2. Engagement on the NGP ...................................................................................60 12.3. On the overall approach.....................................................................................60 12.4. On training and skills development ....................................................................61 12.5. On the green economy.......................................................................................62 12.6. On basic education ............................................................................................62 12.7. Way forward .......................................................................................................63 12.8. New Growth Path and the budget ......................................................................63 12.9. COSATU and the NGP – what is the strategic way forward?.............................65 13. Building Working Class Consciousness and Ideological Cohesion ...................... 66 14. Working Class Unity - Xenophobia COSATU and Home Affairs Programme...........69 15. Unity and Cohesion of the Federation is Sacrosanct ............................................ 69 PART II...........................................................................................................................71 Socio-Economic Report to the 5th COSATU Central Committee ..............................71 Summary of the Socio-Economic Report ....................................................................71 Section A: The Triple Crisis of Unemployment, Poverty and Inequality ......................73 Secretariat Report 2011 COSATU 5th CENTRAL COMMITTEE 3 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................74 2. The Triple Crisis of Unemployment, Poverty and Inequality ....................................76 2.1 The unemployment crisis ......................................................................................76 2.2. The poverty crisis .................................................................................................80 2.3 The inequality crisis ............................................................................................83 Section B: Policy Responses ......................................................................................88 3. Policy Responses to the Triple Crisis of Unemployment, Poverty and Inequality ...88 3.1 The macro-economic developments and policy responses ................................88 4. Building a Developmental State .............................................................................. 96 5. Ownership and Control of the South African Economy ..........................................103 6. Industrial and Trade Policy Developments .............................................................106 7. Labour Market Policy, Skills Development and Occupational Health and Safety... 112 8. HIV and AIDS .........................................................................................................117 8.5 Towards a new National Strategic Framework and Plans on HIV and TB ........ 117 8.6 The NSP drafting process in 2011.....................................................................118 8.7 The challenge of funding HIV and TB Plans .....................................................119 8.8 Reducing Out of Pocket Expenditure on Health Care.........................................119 8.9 Increased and Ring Fenced Funding for TB .......................................................120 8.10 Labour Rights and the NSP.............................................................................120 +RZ&26$78DQGDI¿OLDWHVVKRXOGSDUWLFLSDWHLQWKH1633URFHVV ...............121 9. Social Policy Developments and Responses .........................................................122 10. Conclusion of the Socio-Economic Section............................................................124 Appendix: Discussion Points ........................................................................................125 A1. The Triple Crisis of Unemployment, Poverty and Inequality