By Moshoeshoe Monare
The contentious Native Club is a foolish, "narrow-thinking" concept disguised as an intellectual forum, but is in fact a professional branch of the ANC, Cosatu leaders said on Wednesday.
"The issue of the Native Club is, for the lack of a better word, foolish [sic]. There is no intellectual that can work outside of other intellectuals - you can't say five people must go and stay there, they are intellectuals above all of us, that's narrow thinking really," said Cosatu president Willie Madisha.
The union secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said the club was an indication that the ANC leadership was implementing its proposal of modernised branches of professionals, a proposal that was rejected at the party's national general council (NGC) last year.
"That modernisation document talked about the creation of professional branches, there will be a branch in universities, golf club branch, business branch - the NGC said a person who wants to join a branch must reside somewhere and join a branch with all the people who stay in that area. No professionalisation.
"We think that the Native Club may be some form of a professional branch of the ANC," he said.
In its discussion documents to be presented at the Cosatu congress in September, the labour movement said there was a disturbing culture developing in the ANC in which "leadership hardly respects the decisions of the majority".
"The NGC rejected the modernisation proposal, yet a new paper has surfaced raising almost the same issues under a new guise and with different motivation. Some argue that the 'Native Club' and the 'Business Forum' are all attempts to circumvent the decisions of the NGC," the document said.
There has been public debate about the motive behind the creation of the club, with the discourse mainly triggered by the fact that President Thabo Mbeki's political adviser, Titus Mafolo, was instrumental in its formation.
The contentious Native Club is a foolish, "narrow-thinking" concept disguised as an intellectual forum, but is in fact a professional branch of the ANC, Cosatu leaders said on Wednesday.
"The issue of the Native Club is, for the lack of a better word, foolish [sic]. There is no intellectual that can work outside of other intellectuals - you can't say five people must go and stay there, they are intellectuals above all of us, that's narrow thinking really," said Cosatu president Willie Madisha.
The union secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said the club was an indication that the ANC leadership was implementing its proposal of modernised branches of professionals, a proposal that was rejected at the party's national general council (NGC) last year.
"That modernisation document talked about the creation of professional branches, there will be a branch in universities, golf club branch, business branch - the NGC said a person who wants to join a branch must reside somewhere and join a branch with all the people who stay in that area. No professionalisation.
"We think that the Native Club may be some form of a professional branch of the ANC," he said.
In its discussion documents to be presented at the Cosatu congress in September, the labour movement said there was a disturbing culture developing in the ANC in which "leadership hardly respects the decisions of the majority".
"The NGC rejected the modernisation proposal, yet a new paper has surfaced raising almost the same issues under a new guise and with different motivation. Some argue that the 'Native Club' and the 'Business Forum' are all attempts to circumvent the decisions of the NGC," the document said.
There has been public debate about the motive behind the creation of the club, with the discourse mainly triggered by the fact that President Thabo Mbeki's political adviser, Titus Mafolo, was instrumental in its formation.