POPCRU reflects on political changes following SACP's electoral independence and GNU
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) president, Thulani Ngwenya says the union remains poised yet uncertain regarding the ANC's recent proposal for a Government of National Unity (GNU) and the South African Communist Party's (SACP) decision to independently contest the upcoming elections.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has not decided on the ANC's decision to establish the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the recent resolution by the South African Communist Party to contest the elections independently.
Popcru president, Thulani Ngwenya, revealed that the union will be consulting and workshopping some of the recent political developments with all its members and partners across all the regions before making a final decision on its position.
This comes as Popcru members met for a three-day political workshop held at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg from Wednesday to Friday.
Following the 2023 Popcru elective congress in Durban, POPCRU president Thulani Ngwenya indicated that due to the outcomes of the recent elections, which resulted in the formation of the GNU and the recent announcement by SACP to contest elections as a political party on its own, it became important for POPCRU leaders to meet and reflect on the most recent political developments in the country.
"The POCRU National Executive Committee sat and reflected on the latest political developments. Firstly, it was the outcome of the recent elections of which found that the ANC and the alliance as a whole were not able to achieve a 50-plus percent majority in the elections. The second part of this is the announcement by the SACP, which went to Congress and took a resolution that they are now going independently. This has an impact on us affiliates of Cosatu and workers. As you know, the SACP is the vanguard of the working class. Thirdly, we also wanted to reflect on the establishment of the GNU," he stated.
On the GNU, Ngwenya said while Popcru does not support the establishment of the GNU as it has resulted in differing ideologies amongst many of the partners and political parties involved, it does not want to take the populist view on the matter.
"We do not want to shoot from the hip and take a populist stance, so that is why we have decided to sit down and workshop this. The workshop will allow everyone to speak. That is why we also said, let us call our alliance partners, which include the ANC and the SACP, and COSATU, because these developments are around us. We wanted the SACP to come and tell us what informed them to contest the elections," he added.