The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) were excluded from President Thabo Mbeki’s Cabinet selection process and were informed via a letter about his premier choices.
Less than a month after the ANC’s election victory, Cosatu is flexing its muscles. The federation has always believed that the alliance should lead government, while Mbeki insists on a government-led alliance.
While Mbeki has the sole prerogative to pick his minister, it is widely known that, given the cooperation between the alliance partners during this election, they had expected consultation on the appointment of the Cabinet and the premiers.
”As an integral part of the movement, Cosatu will be treated with all the respect we deserve,” Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi wrote in an article in the April 10 Mail & Guardian.
”In the campaign we saw close collaboration at all levels — that spirit and practice should continue beyond [the] elections.”
This week he told the M&G that he first discovered who the Cabinet ministers and their deputies were from the media. However he extolled the health of the alliance, which he said is at ”an all-time high”.
The SACP spokesperson, Mazibuko Jara, confirmed that the party had not been consulted and that the matter would be discussed at its central committee meeting next weekend.
However, Cosatu is determined to maintain the cooperative spirit of the election and prevent one partner from calling all the shots.
This week the federation held its Winter School in Benoni and began to put the meat on the bones of the ANC’s jobs campaign.
The Chris Hani Brigade, a select squad of 180 youth who are being groomed as the future leaders of Cosatu, was launched.
Cosatu is consulting the National Labour and Economic Development Institute to advance the Growth and Development Summit agreements, which have remained largely rhetorical. The federation has also formed committees to continue the grassroots campaigning that took shape during the elections.
Union sources said that the exclusion of Cosatu and the SACP implied that alliance was emphasised before every election and pushed to the periphery in the intervening years. They are concerned that the pattern will repeat itself during next year’s local elections.