02 February 2016 at 08:31am
By: MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA
Durban - In the wake of rising tensions within the tripartite alliance in KwaZulu-Natal, the partners are set to meet this week to thrash out their differences ahead of municipal elections.
The planned meeting takes place as the SACP and Congress of South African Trade Unions complain about their marginalisation in the nomination of ANC councillors. A date has not yet been set.
They claimed that their members were prevented from joining the ANC because they supported certain leaders.
The matter has become serious after the shooting that claimed two lives and injured five others in Inchanga last week.
ANC provincial secretary, Super Zuma, said on Monday the secretaries of the KZN alliance partners held their meeting on Thursday.
"We agreed to convene a meeting to deal with some of the issues the comrades think need to be tackled. That meeting will be held this week," Zuma said.
"We are not in a position to discuss issues outside the alliance," Zuma said.
Cosatu provincial secretary, Edwin Mkhize, confirmed last week`s meeting, saying the one planned for this week was subject to diaries and activities of the alliance leaders.
"There are a number of political challenges that we, as the leaders, have to face. If we do not face them, they will disturb the alliance in the build-up to the local government elections," Mkhize said.
He also said there was a tendency of opportunists who were imposing candidate councillors on the ANC branches.
"The way they do it is so sophisticated to an extent that branch general meetings are convened in questionable ways, but we would not want to talk more about it.
"There is also marginalisation of Cosatu from the reports we receive on the flaws in the nomination process. We have to engage on those issues soberly," Mkhize added.
Zuma said their alliance secretaries meeting had also discussed the need to convene an provincial alliance summit.
The summit would flow from the one held by national leaders two years ago, where it was agreed that it should be cascaded down to the provinces.
Last week, SACP general secretary, Blade Nzimande, said the problems faced by the alliance needed to be collectively identified and their solutions found.
"There are certainly points of concern for us, butI am sure that we can come together and, as a collective, find solutions. We have to start by being honest in identifying the problems we are facing," Nzimande said.
On Monday, Mkhize said the provincial summit was an issue on the table for the KZN tripartite alliance. "We are to look at the date when to convene the summit. There is no fixed date as yet," he said.
The ANC on Monday ended its three-day lekgotla held on the northern parts of the province.
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/tripartite-alliance-will-meet-to-sort-out-differences-1978556