Durban - The General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Dr Blade Nzimande, on Wednesday urged Cosatu aligned workers to vote for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in order to defend the gains made by the country and the working class since 1994.
Nzimande was addressing workers during the workers' federation main workers day rally which was held in Durban.
He said an election victory for the ANC on May 8 must be the basis on which the fight against corruption and state capture is intensified both inside of the ANC and government itself, and in society at large.
"Decisive victory in the forthcoming sixth democratic general election is crucial for defending the gains realised by our people under democratically elected successive ANC-led governments since 1994. The decisive victory we need to secure is important for moving the national democratic revolution on to a second radical phase through legislative means and government policy, and for defending, advancing and deepening the revolution towards its logical completion.
“We, therefore, must pull out all the stops in the remaining days. We must labour everywhere across the country to achieve the much needed decisive electoral victory," Nzimande said to workers.
He said while they are urging workers to vote for the ANC, they are not giving them a blank cheque.
Turning to workers, he lambasted them for taking a back seat during the years of state capture, saying their withdrawal from the country's political affairs gave looters a chance that has seen civil servants, teachers and police officers losing out on a decent housing subsidy.
"Workers must unite and be involved in the country's affairs as when they withdraw, the corrupt take over and leave a mess," Nzimande said.
Turning to ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who was the main speaker of the day, Nzimande assured him that they will be side by side with him as he continues in his bid to clean up the state. He said they know that there is a fightback campaign by those implicated and that will be defeated. He was, however, quick to warn Ramaphosa that they want a fresh start as the alliance.
"Many bad things happened in the last five years and we want a fresh start Mr. President. We don't want those things to happen again as they nearly crippled the country," Nzimande who spoke mainly in Zulu, said.