Sechaba ka’Nkosi Newly elected general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) Slumko Nondwangu this week began an uphill battle to stamp his authority on a union increasingly divided by tensions over ideology.
At 36 Nondwangu assumes a difficult task: continuing the legacy of his predecessors that has made Numsa the home of intellectual activism in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), while at the same time preserving the alliance with the African National Congress. Nondwangu’s election comes at a time of serious tension among Numsa’s top brass over its role in the ANC-led tripartite alliance. Nondwangu narrowly beat Dinga Sikwebu for the top position. Sikwebu, unlike Nondwangu, is seen as representing the far-left faction within the union that is opposed to the ANC’s leadership of the alliance. At the Numsa congress last week some of the union’s powerful regions submitted proposals calling for the immediate termination of the alliance with the ANC and the South African Communist Party. The faction believes the alliance has outlived its meaningful role in South African politics and has been paralysed by the contradictions of the ANC government’s conservative economic reform programme and the socialist orientation of the liberation movement. In an indication of the factionalism besetting the union, Sikwebu was suspended last month in a disciplinary hearing that many believe was instituted to block his attempt to pip Nondwangu to the top position. Nondwangu struggles to hide his unease about the narrowness of his 50-vote win over Sikwebu at the congress last week. “I know my biggest task is to unite the head office as a centre for all our activities,” says Nondwangu. “We have to create certainty among staffers here because that is where our strength lies.” While Nondwangu likes to consider himself on the left of the movement, he is more cautious than the likes of Sikwebu when it comes to discussing the future of the alliance. Like most Cosatu members Nondwangu singles out the lack of vigorous debate and consultation on matters of economic policy as the biggest threat to the survival of the alliance. With 200 000 members, Numsa is the fourth-biggest union in the two million-member Cosatu. “We are not in the alliance to agree on everything. We have to differ but as things stand at the moment there is not even enough room to express a different view on the issues,” says Nondwangu. “But keep in mind also that within the left there are many different interpretations of the current political situation. “The ANC as an organisation represents different class interests and it is in the interest of the workers therefore to make sure that the ANC is redirected to represent a class bias towards the labour movement.” The attack by some Numsa regions on the ANC – as well as similar attacks by other unions – comes during the run-up to Cosatu’s congress this month, which is likely to be the scene of serious soul-searching about the future of the alliance. While some of the recent outbursts against the ANC could be dismissed as typical posturing associated with the union conference season, there also appears to be an unprecedented coordination and aggression in the unions’ attacks.
Nondwangu has some difficult acts to follow. The union’s first general secretary, Moses Mayekiso, was a major political figure and now presides over the civic movement’s controversial investment arm; his successor Enoch Godongwana has become a leading light in the Eastern Cape government. Then there was Mbuyiselo Ngwenda, the charismatic young unionist who passed away last year just when Numsa thought it had found the man who could lead it into the 21st century. Unlike Nondwangu, all these men were elected unopposed. Nondwangu comes from the Eastern Cape and, like Ngwenda, is a staunch communist. They were close friends and both rose through the ranks from being ordinary shop stewards to lead the union. Like all alliance leaders, Nondwangu will have to follow a delicate balancing act – retaining unity in the union, challenging the powerful ANC to which many of his members subscribe and helping to preserve Cosatu’s role in the alliance. It is difficult to discern precisely how he intends walking this tightrope. “I try to mix theory and practice,” he says. “The problem that leads to the demise of the labour movement’s influence in decision-making throughout the world is its contempt for theory. Populism and rhetoric are good. But they are very difficult to sustain.”