The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) elected S’dumo Dlamini as its new president last week. Matuma Letsoalo spoke to him about the challenges facing the labour federation.
How do you plan to heal Cosatu’s divisions?
It would be unfair to the leadership collective if I said there’s a plan solely from me. I must navigate the organisation through the process. We must explain to our members how we reached certain decisions. Cosatu is a huge organisation; we need to explain why, out of the blue, we decided to elect a new president even though we elected one during our congress in 2006. I will go to all our affiliates and talk about unity.
Cosatu has been criticised for its involvement in ANC affairs to the detriment of workers.
That perception exists, but sometimes we believe you media people perpetuate that thinking. Cosatu understands its primary duty is to its members.
We’re running a lot of campaigns to try to satisfy the interests of members or workers. But the federation has an interest in how the ANC runs this country. By and large our members are ANC members and the policies that the ANC implements in government affect us.
Some commentators say Cosatu’s endorsement of ANC president Jacob Zuma has turned the organisation into an instrument used to fight struggles for political office. Your take?
Cosatu thought it was wise to support Zuma during the time he was treated unfairly. The manner in which he was fired, the exclusion of the alliance formations, the exclusion of the ANC to inform them on that decision [to fire Zuma], the manner in which the Scorpions conducted itself, was not fair.
He’s part of the collective that liberated this country.
Cosatu demanded seats on the ANC’s national executive committee as ex officio members. What progress have you made?
At the ANC’s Polokwane conference there was a general consensus that the ANC needed more voices from workers. At the recent alliance summit this matter was accommodated by the ANC. In our central executive committee (CEC) meeting we discussed names and when a formal request arises, we will forward it.
Cosatu has shown a growing tendency to clamp down on those with different opinions. Under your leadership will this continue?
For a long time we have allowed very alien tendencies. For example, there is no media person at our CEC, but before the end of the day there is a television story on what was discussed. This is a tendency that has engulfed us. Situations also arise where we take decisions and people disown or attack them. I hope [under my leadership] everybody will respect organisational discipline. When we identify people among us who fail to observe organisational discipline, we shall act.
Will Cosatu charge National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa leader Silumko Nondwangu, who was included on Thabo Mbeki’s candidate list at Polokwane?
The CEC considered setting up a disciplinary committee chaired by Cosatu’s second deputy president, Violet Seboni. It is in that committee that charges will be investigated and comrade Nondwangu will have an opportunity to defend himself.
Are you troubled by Zuma’s suggestion that deregulating the labour market might create jobs?
He might have put it in a way that confused people including Cosatu’s leaders, but when we discussed it with him we understood what he meant. He said he would be the first to lay down his life in defence of the labour laws. That does not talk about labour flexibility. Everybody rejects flexibility except capital.
Zuma assured the international investment community that there would be no radical economic policy departures if he should become president. Your reaction?
Obviously not. Cosatu expects a shift and not just a small shift in policy, in the interest of the working class. I understand statements were made to address a particular concern. He was saying that to a particular audience. The positions of Cosatu are very clear — we would not have campaigned for the outcome at Polokwane if we did not expect change. We expect change from the ANC leadership and from government.
What immediate changes, particularly on the economy, would you like to see under a Zuma presidency?
We want to see a change from Gear [the Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy], a shift of certain economic powers back into the government’s fold such as land and other important economic resources. The Freedom Charter enshrines the view that the commanding heights of the economy shall be nationalised.