Portside

South Africa and the world today mourn the death of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - leader in the fight against apartheid, head of the ANC and first president of a free South Africa. Statement by COSATU - The Congress of South African Trade Unions - "the greatest ever South African and most inspirational leader in our struggle for liberty and democracy..." Mandela's speech, "I Am Prepared to Die." from the dock in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 (full text and audio recording).

Some have questioned whether the Tripartite Alliance between the trade union federation, the ANC and the SACP. is still relevant to Cosatu. If the government ignores everything we say, what is the point of being in alliance with the governing party? This view is short-sighted. Yes we have suffered some setbacks, just as we did with Gear. But that battle raged for years before we eventually triumphed. It will be the same now.

The prospects that the ANC, SACP and Cosatu alliance once offered the broad masses have been forgotten at the feeding trough, says Raymond Suttner.

South Africa is not a perfect society. Full equality - social and economic - does not exist, control of the country's wealth remains in the hands of a few, so new challenges and frustrations arise. I believe we should be doing far better. Our liberation struggle reached a high point, not its zenith when we overcame apartheid rule.

Pallo Jordan's speech at the Bisho massacre memorial lecture in King William's Town, Eastern Cape, on September 7, 2012