The African National Congress and its alliance partners will establish a full-time political school in Gauteng to develop and train their members, the ANC said on Monday.

The announcement follows a Gauteng tripartite alliance summit which took place at the weekend.

The Alliance, consisting of the ANC, the SA Communist Party, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, and the SA National Civic Organisation, said the institution would be up and running by January 2009.

"We agreed that there is a need to develop a comprehensive strategy that will assist us in deploying our cadres in all key areas in which the transformation agenda is being pursued," ANC provincial secretary David Makhura told reporters in Johannesburg.

He said the alliance would treat this with "serious care".

In addition, the alliance had made a common commitment to increasing the ANC's majority in Gauteng during the 2009 general elections.

It would embark on an identity document registration campaign, urging people to vote in the election.

"We are not worried about losing elections. We are very certain as an alliance in achieving an overwhelming victory for the ANC," said Makhura, adding that the alliance was more concerned about the low turnout of voters over the years.

He said all the affected areas were known and the question was "how do we get supporters to vote?"

Cosatu, which held protests in the Free State, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga last week, was planning more mass action in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West on Wednesday, leading up to a national stayaway on 6 August.

The ANC would join Cosatu in its countrywide protests against rising fuel and energy prices.

"The march is one of the things that need to be done. The ANC takes up issues affecting people."

On rocketing prices, Makhura said: "We must arrest this process."

He said the alliance would work with communities to address rising fuel prices. As part of the programme, land would be identified to enhance food security and agricultural production in the province.

The weekend summit also discussed the effects of the recent xenophobic attacks. Victims of xenophobia were urged to register so that they could be accorded legal status.

The Department of Home Affairs said on Monday that the process of issuing temporary identification cards to people displaced by the attacks was ongoing.

Many people had refused to register with the department, forcing government to issue a deadline for Monday. Those who did not comply would be deported, the department said.

Sapa