The ANC in the Western Cape has appealed to the tripartite alliance to unite with the party to emerge victorious in the province during the general elections.

Western Cape provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs, who addressed a meeting of shop stewards in Salt River on Saturday, said together they have a history of struggle.

"Our history talks about an enduring alliance. As we stand on the cusp of an election, we once again appeal to our comrades in Cosatu to work with the ANC and ensure that workers have victory come elections 2019.

"Yes, we can have parties that fight for the rights of workers. Yes, we can have parties that are socialist. The reality is that unless we create a united front with the ANC as the leader - for it is the only leading force capable of defeating the DA - the enemy of the working class will never be unseated in the Western Cape," he said.

Jacobs added that Cosatu, the ANC, the SACP and Sanco must show how black Africans and coloureds can and do work together.

"In Cosatu, Africans, coloureds and even whites and Indians have stood side by side to fight for the issues of the working class and that of our communities. The DA divides: The tripartite alliance unites.

"We need all hands on deck. We may have our differences; we may have our disagreements but as the elections approach let us remember who the real enemy is. Let's see our real opponent, the one that seeks to divide the working class, to divide and rule and keep our people in oppression. Let's not fail our people. Let's unite for our people's sake."

New era

Jacobs said the ANC was putting the past nine years behind it and was entering a new era together with the rest of the country.

"And as we do that let's recommit ourselves to what these comrades stood for: A united, non-racist, non-sexist, fully democratic South Africa."

He said that signs of the new dawn include a Cabinet that is unrecognisable from the one of December 2018, steely characters in charge of Crime Intelligence and the NPA, as well as the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

"Some impatient voices are calling for action against those who are being implicated at hearings. The Zondo Commission must complete its work. The president will act on that body's recommendations when he receives its report. All we are saying is that the time of South Africa being a playground for looters is over," Jacobs said.

He continued that the ANC government, contrary to what those who opposed the working class have been saying, does have a positive story to tell.

"Because this positive story benefits, in the main the working class, the chattering classes are not interested in hearing it. To them the working class does not matter. But to us the working class does matter.

"The ANC has ensured that the working class and working class communities benefited the most from national government programmes," Jacobs said.

"To be able to read, have access to clean drinking water, electricity and social grants that often mean being able to live might seem insignificant in the eyes of some. But, ask the beneficiaries how they feel. They will be able to tell how life has improved since the fall of apartheid," he said.

Jacobs slammed the DA in the Western Cape that it is in shambles, and that DA premier candidate Allan Winde as a wealthy man who has never lived in an area that was ridden with drugs and gangs.

"He has never lived in Delft. He doesn't know what it is like to be home before dark because that's when the shootings start. He has never had to take a train to work. He has never had to fear for the safety of his children going to school.

"Yet, this is the man the DA places in charge of community safety. This is the man that the DA puts up as their premier candidate because they continue to believe that only a white man can lead. This man who has never had to worry about where his next meal for his family will come from uses poor, working class people - like us - to enrich only the wealthy people and areas of this province."

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