Wednesday, members of South Africa’s governing party the African National Congress started their five-year gathering amid rising tensions sparked by the upcoming party elections.
President Thabo Mbeki tried to bring together all factions through his inaugural speech, calling for unity in order to establish a new ANC leader in December. Mbeki said the alleged tensions inside the tripartite alliance are merely suppositions and “propaganda.”
Mbeki is taking heavy fire from opposition members for the way he’s handling a crippling strike that affects public services since June 1. Union members are unhappy, riots broke out in impoverished regions, all adding to an apocalyptical picture that illustrates South Africa’s condition in the past month.
Most South Africans live below the subsistence threshold and the poor wager for the few working persons triggered their anger, unions calling for a strike in the public services sector on June 1.
The government tried to defend itself by saying “it is not possible to resolve problems that have accumulated over 350 years in 13 years of democratic rule,” but the strike continues and Mbeki faces one of his biggest challenge since he took over from Nelson Mandela in 1999.
Inflation reached an alarming 6.4 per cent, but salaries remained the same with Mbeki’s government refusing to cave in under demands from public servants to raise their wages with 9 per cent.
Mbeki acknowledged his government has “a long way to go to deliver a better life for all people,” but Congress of South African Trade Unions blasted the ANC for seeing its own interests, being more concerned over the fight for power leaving the impoverished population last.
A long series of controversies emerged after the 65-year-old politician veiledly expressed his intention to run for a third term as ANC leader, a position that would preserve Mbeki’s influence after his last term as president ends in 2009.
The other factions composing the governing alliance support different candidates for the December elections, widening even more the chasm between them.
