As the general election draws closer, the battle for the support of South Africa’s working class has begun.
Predominantly placed ideologically to the left, the working class is being pulled from the right, the ”disciplined left” and now the ”ultra-left”. The attempt by the ultra-left Anti-Privatisation Forum to force a split in the Tripartite Alliance is the most recent volley.
Serious fissures have emerged in the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu), which is allied to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). Forum elements in the union want to draw the rank and file away from the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party.
Ceppwawu recently suspended the office-bearers of its Wits region for blocking an investigation into a referendum mooted by the same officials on Cosatu’s political support for the ANC/SACP in next year’s elections. One of the union office- bearers suspended — John Appolis — is the forum’s chairperson.
Cosatu announced this month that it would support the ANC in the 2004 elections.
Cosatu and SACP insiders have complained that the forum intended to stand for elections next year, so it was forcing a split between the alliance members to woo workers.
Forum leader Trevor Ngwane denied that his organisation was planning to contest next year’s election. ”Whatever we do, we will ask the workers not to support the ANC. We are fighting for the right of workers to make their own choice.”
The United Democratic Movement currently appears to be rallying for labour support. UDM leader Bantu Holomisa has made overtures to Cosatu in the past and now appears to be fighting for workers’ political independence — it is understood that he intervened in a recent internal dispute in the Food and Allied Workers’ Union, another Cosatu affiliate, in KwaZulu-Natal. Cosatu insiders in the province believe that his intervention was an attempt to mobilise support for next year’s elections.
However, the UDM leader denied that he was interested in wooing the Cosatu membership. ”I believe that trade unions should be politically independent — I would rather they formed a workers’ party. Cosatu and the ANC have achieved the country’s independence, now they must go their separate ways,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance has also been making some sympathetic noises on working-class issues such as the Basic Income Grant and the Treatment Action Campaign’s demand for access to anti-retrovirals.
The political manoeuvring is set against the backdrop of a battle between the right and the left in the ruling alliance. Cosatu’s national conference in September is seen as the next ”arena of struggle” between the two ideologically opposed forces within the alliance. The conference will elect new office-bearers between September 15 and 18.
Many unionists fear the ANC grouping closely linked to President Thabo Mbeki will campaign for the removal of Cosatu’s current leaders, viewing them as ultra-leftists, and replace them with members of the disciplined left.
These leaders have regularly been attacked by Mbeki and his ”inner clique” since the federation voiced its opposition to government’s plans to privatise the provision of basic services, and the non-provision of anti-retrovirals to all people living with HIV/Aids.
Ironically, the forum participated in the Cosatu-led anti-privatisation march last year.
Last year Cosatu alleged that five of its biggest affiliate unions, including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, had been infiltrated by government intelligence operatives in an attempt to weaken the unions and ”ultimately Cosatu”.
Trade unionist Gwede Mantashe, a member of the central committees of Cosatu and the SACP, felt it ”a bit simplistic” to suggest that the working class will lend its support to one particular party. He said that the working class is by nature never homogeneous.
His feeling is that the forum-driven split in Ceppwawu with its ”radical programme” might attract support in the short term. He added that in the long term workers were looking for a ”consistent framework of programmes” which would help them.
Mantashe said a similar attempt by the ultra-left to force a split in the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) in 2000 at the Volkswagen plant in Uitenhage failed. More than 1 000 workers at the plant went on strike after 13 Volkswagen shop stewards were suspended by the Numsa leadership.
The dispute was believed to have been part of a much broader battle concerning the political relationship between labour and the government and independence of the federation. The 13 suspended officials aligned themselves with the ultra-left breakaway faction, the Oil, Chemical, General and Allied Workers’ Union.
Following the strike, which Numsa said was called by the 13 suspended officials, more than 1 000 workers lost their jobs. Numsa then intervened and negotiated with the plant and managed to reinstate 150 workers.
Another Cosatu affiliate, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, has experienced intense ideological clashes in the past, particularly over privatisation. However, tension appears to have eased in the wake of Cosatu’s adoption of a more militant approach to tackling the thorny issue.