Decline: Saftu leader Zwelinzima Vavi
The haemorrhaging membership numbers across trade union federations, as well as this week’s bitter feud between Zwelinzima Vavi and Irvin Jim, two former bastions of union leadership, has accentuated the decline of trade unions in South Africa.
Vavi heads the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and Jim the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).
The image of President Cyril Ramaphosa, himself a former trade union leader, fleeing a Workers’ Day rally in Rustenburg in North West on 1 May with the help of police escorts, was the metaphor of how today’s political leadership, which benefited from worker organisations, is gradually being rejected by its original constituency, the working class.
In 2018, trade union federation Cosatu was reported to be bleeding members in the thousands.
This was against the backdrop of the expulsion of its longest-serving general secretary, Vavi, and one of its biggest affiliates, Numsa, walking away with more than 300 000 members. Coupled with the economic downturn, and the political upheaval in the ANC, this resulted in financial strain for Cosatu.
This week’s Saftu conference — a union born of the ambitions of Vavi and the likes to elbow out Cosatu — exposed its own weaknesses, similar to that of Cosatu.
In his organisational report, Vavi laid bare Saftu’s paralysis in the recruitment of members. He outlined how the membership numbers had dropped by 79 000 members.
He rationalised the decline by saying that it reflected the overall demise of the South Africa proletariat in the context of which an extreme pandemic disrupted global capitalism. Brazen, official neoliberalism was adopted in mid-2020, he said, and the capitalist crises of inequality and unregulated technological change had played out.
Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla agrees, somewhat, admitting that the ANC-led alliance is under enormous pressure. He contends that workers are of the view that the alliance has lost touch with its base.
“There is no way unions can survive a situation where the country is imploding. For the alliance, it is a big question that will have to be answered in the coming conference, in that how we respond to not just what workers are saying, but to what voters are saying, will determine the future of the alliance,” he said.
Political analyst Sanusha Naidu argues that there is a dilemma emerging about what representation means and whether workers, in the internal governance architecture, are really represented.
She argues that while labour unions represent the rights of workers, they are also seen to be the disruptor to workers.
“It’s almost a paradoxical interpretation. They are relevant, but at the same time becoming irrelevant.”
Naidu said there is a general sense of disconnect in Cosatu leadership with its members.
“I think workers are frustrated because they’re not just seeing this in the context of the alliances working for us, they are probably asking the more existential question: is the alliance over?” she said.
“There’s a general sense of apathy across the board. If the Electoral Commission of South Africa is right, predicting that we are going to have less than 50% [voter turnout] for the next election, then I think of that number, of the electorate that actually registers and then those that actually come on to vote, we must start asking them in terms of our age cohort, but also in terms of industry or work, how many of them, actually, individuals that are linked to Cosatu workers have decided: ‘We just don’t believe in the system anymore, that this is not working for us.’ And I think that’s something very critical.”
Saftu concluded its four-day congress on Thursday, where Vavi said they hoped to unite with other unions to further the workers’ struggles in the country. He also made a commitment to recruit the 76% of unorganised workers as well as those workers who have not been reached.
Vavi retained his position as secretary general after a close contest against Moses Mautsoe. The president of the union is now Ruth Ntlokotse and her deputy is Thabo Matsose.
Vavi also highlighted that Numsa, which was a tough contender at the conference, was not leaving and that he and Jim had found one another.
“It would not happen in a million years … Unity of workers should remain our goal. We have a commitment to uphold which is to listen to the grievances of the workers to address them,” he said.
Vavi dismissed the thought of joining forces with Cosatu and said that unions were adamant about unity between all trade unions. He then referred to the 27 other unions that exist and said all of them combined would make a difference.
“The unity is necessary and must be pursued. We will host joint campaigns and programmes in the future.”
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union noted the issues workers were faced with, and that many were “under attack”.
“We are operating in a space of extreme unemployment, which is terrible. It’s a crisis because it deepens the suffering of workers. We are seeing an increase in the casualisation of workers — or seeing workers moving from permanent to contract to freelance [terms of employment]. All of those things mean that workers and their livelihoods and conditions are under attack,” said Hlubi-Majola.
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