The battle for positions in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is about more than the political alignment between supporters of African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Jacob Zuma, said Professor Devan Pillay on Wednesday.
”The key factor here is the question of the relationship between the president and the general secretary,” said Pillay, associate professor of sociology at Witwatersrand University.
He was commenting on the wrangle over leadership positions in Cosatu, which is holding its ninth congress in Midrand.
There have been continuing reports of a split between Cosatu president Willie Madisha and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
On Wednesday, congress heard that Vavi was elected unopposed for his position again while Madisha, recently re-elected president of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), is contesting the presidency against National Union of Metalworkers’ of South Africa (Numsa) member Zanoxolo Wayile. The election is on Thursday.
Neither candidate appears to have the backing of his own union.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is believed to have nominated Wayile, while Numsa told the congress that Wayile’s acceptance of nomination for the presidency was against a union decision. The NUM, Sadtu and Numsa are the three biggest unions in the federation.
Other office bearers were elected unopposed.
Pillay said while the split between Zuma and Mbeki factions was a factor, there were other tensions too.
He said there was a longstanding principle in Cosatu that workers control the organisation and this issue was part of the tension between Madisha and Vavi.
Madisha, although senior to Vavi as the president, remains a worker and would be expected to turn to his pre-union official job with his employer if he is no longer president, while Vavi is a paid union employee.
”Once you become general secretary, you are no longer a worker,” said Pillay.
At the same time, Vavi is based in the Cosatu offices, at the centre of the union’s affairs, while Madisha is not.
”Life is difficult for Madisha because he doesn’t have a full-time office at Cosatu, so it undermines his position,” said Pillay.
”The general secretary runs the day to day affairs of the union so is intimately aware of all the issues, but has to consult with the president.”
He said the conflict was resulting in spin-offs, such as one of the resolutions being proposed at the congress, on constitutional amendments, which reflected attempts to clarify the secretary general’s role.
Pillay said he thought that Madisha still had enough support to win the presidency again on Thursday. — Sapa