The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) keeping closer tabs on government through a shadow cabinet is likely to cause friction within the ruling alliance, political analysts said on Friday.
”It’s clear that Cosatu has adopted a more energetic approach to monitoring government … the problem is how the alliance partners interpret this.
”Will the ANC accept Cosatu taking responsibility for monitoring? Will they be happy about that?” asked Prince Mashele, head of the Crime, Justice and Politics Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.
Mashele was responding to a report in the Mail & Guardian indicating that the trade-union federation would establish an accountability structure obliging its leftist leaders in President Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet and in the provincial and national parliaments to be accountable directly to Cosatu.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini told the M&G these plans would top the agenda at its national congress in September.
Despite improved relations between the African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners, Cosatu observed there was little sign that the Zuma-led government was prepared to make the changes to macro-economic policies that it had been pushing for.
Dlamini said the congress would consider new strategies to put pressure on Zuma and the ANC to consider some of the left’s policy proposals.
Although Cosatu respected that leaders of the left deployed in government had the responsibility to report to Zuma and the ANC, he also expected them to report to the new Cosatu accountability structure.
The structure would enable Cosatu to tighten accountability of those deployed to the government. It would also have the power to recommend to its central executive committee the recall of those who failed to pursue a working-class agenda.
Mashele said should this go ahead, it may lead to friction within the alliance as the final say over hiring and firing of Cabinet ministers rested with the president.
He added that Cosatu would be ”caught between a rock and a hard place” at its September congress.
”It [Cosatu] needs to define and articulate what it means to cooperate with a friendly administration while also playing a watchdog role to ensure that the interests of workers are met.”
He cautioned that should the South African Communist Party, also part of the ruling alliance, pursue a similar strategy, government stability could be compromised.
University of Johannesburg director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy Steven Friedman said the ”strong stance” taken by Cosatu may be to assure its constituency that the union was still actively pursuing its interests, despite being part of a ruling group it strongly supported.
He concurred that if this route were pursued, it may upset the ANC.
”Cabinet ministers are ANC cabinet ministers … and shadow cabinets are put together by oppositions, not by members of your own alliance,” he said.
He said Cosatu should focus rather on strengthening its own organising strategy, an issue that has plagued the federation for some time.
”You would be more likely to get influence by being a strong organising force that people can’t ignore, and Cosatu is not doing that.”
In what the M&G called a ”veiled attack” on Planning Commission Minister Trevor Manuel, Dlamini said Cosatu was aware that some in the ”1996 class project” are trying hard to influence Zuma with the growth, employment and redistribution [Gear] policies introduced that year.
”We will follow the remnants of the 1996 class project, whether they are in the alliance or government,” Dlamini said.
”By including them in his new Cabinet, Zuma gave them a second opportunity to behave. They should be loyal to the policies of the ANC.
”We know others want to be more influential and make outrageous statements [on policies]. I don’t want to talk about individuals, but what I know is they will be dislodged,” said Dlamini. — Sapa