by CRYSTAL ORDERSON
As the ruling ANC prepares for its big policy conference in June, it faces another challenge – a new alliance of radical trade unionists and grass-roots activists.
A new socialist movement – the United Front (UF) – is due to storm onto South Africa’s political scene in April.
It brings together trade unionists and activists to fight for working people’s rights, facing off against both big business and the African National Congress (ANC) government, which is one of the biggest employers in the country.
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Over the past two decades, the ANC has left several breakaway groups in the dust, none of which possessed the organisational nous and resources needed to take it on.
But the UF looks to be a different matter, partly because it has a strong base drawn from NUMSA and the other trade unions that have clashed with Cosatu over its support for ANC president Jacob Zuma.
The new movement is also pressing home its clear ideological differences with the ANC.
It has an unambiguously left-wing agenda and says that it will speak for the millions of poor and jobless in South Africa.
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