In a development suggesting those in Cosatu who support a second term for Jacob Zuma as ANC president are gaining the upper hand, the trade union federation this week markedly toned down its criticism of government policies.
Cosatu has been characterised by sharp divisions within its ranks of late, with its leaders pulling in different directions on key government policies. But in a surprise move this week, Cosatu said it believed the national democratic revolution was on track, the government’s new economic growth path was a step in the right direction and it was prepared to engage with Presidency Minister Trevor Manuel on weaknesses diagnosed in his planning commission’s recent report.
These statements are all a far cry from stances taken in the hard-hitting report Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi prepared for the federation’s recent central committee.
In that report Vavi decried Zuma’s indecisiveness, declared as “possibly corrupt” lucrative business deals involving his family, and said the federation was “unwise” to rely too much on Zuma.
Vavi’s report criticised Zuma’s administration for marginalising the trade union federation when it appointed the chief executives and boards of parastatals South African Airways, Telkom and Transnet. It also blamed him for failing to control “a grouping in the ANC” that continues to “block transformation of the alliance and its relationship with the ANC”.
Zuma was indecisive, particularly in leading the government to deliver on Polokwane promises, Vavi’s report said, warning Zuma that he could not be “everything to everyone”.
“Reliance on the president to resolve this contestation in the state in favour of the working class ends up in unfairly and unwisely placing too much responsibility and too much faith in one individual who is himself subject to all types of contradictory pulls,” it said.
Vavi expressed the fear that the “new class of tenderpreneurs” might retain Zuma as president in 2012 but “surround him with a right-wing NEC [national executive committee] to corrode his political support base”.
But this week Cosatu engaged reverse gear on these positions. In a media briefing on Thursday following its central executive committee (CEC) meeting, it said: “We reaffirm that the working class and the country have made significant gains since the democratic breakthrough of April 1994. These gains need to be defended at all times as they are under constant threats from the right-wing and neoliberal ideology.”
The achievements Cosatu enumerated included:
- More than 3.2million houses built;
- Six million households gaining access to clean water; and
- 14.5million people receiving social grants by 2010, including pensions and child support grants from the government.
In July, Cosatu was forced to postpone key debates during a central committee meeting as various lobby groups pulled in different directions.
On the one hand, a group led by Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini was pushing for a moderate and less critical stance towards government policies and Zuma’s leadership.
On the other, Vavi criticised the government’s new growth path and the planning commission’s diagnostic report — and in the process earned the ire of those who accused him of agitating for regime change.
Tensions within Cosatu on the government’s economic policies were, in effect, a proxy war between those who want Cosatu to support the top six ANC leaders and those who, in tandem with the ANC Youth League, propose to replace ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and Zuma with new leaders.
Dlamini is supported by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and part of teachers’ union Sadtu. Vavi is supported by Cosatu’s metal and engineering union, Numsa, the municipal workers’ union Samwu and some Sadtu members.
‘Under pressure’
Some political observers have pointed to Numsa’s and Samwu’s prolonged strike action on wage increases this year, suggesting they indicate that the intention of the two unions was to put the government under pressure.
By contrast, Nehawu and Sadtu, the largest among Cosatu’s public sector unions, took a soft stance this time around when they settled in wage negotiations without embarking on strike action.
In what appeared to be a major boost for the Zuma-aligned group in Cosatu, the federation also took a different stance this week from its previous endorsements of nationalisation. It also promised to take tough action against those who engaged in succession debates concerning Cosatu, the SACP or the ANC.
In veiled attack on the ANC Youth League and some of its leaders, Cosatu warned that the nationalisation debate should not be used as a campaign for ANC leadership succession. The youth league had previously warned that ANC leaders who did not support its campaign for “economic freedom in our lifetime” would not be re-elected to the ANC leadership.
“Nationalisation is not an end in itself or a panacea to all our economic challenges. It must be constructed as a progressive policy to empower our people as a whole. It must help us socialise the means of production and be a means to advance towards socialism,” said Cosatu at this week’s briefing.
The federation also announced that its national leaders would lead an anti-corruption march to the office of Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale on Friday to pressure him into acting on corrupt elements within the provincial administration. These anti-corruption marches would spread to other provinces in the next coming months.
Cosatu rejected suggestions of internal division. “It is not true that Cosatu is divided on ideological and political lines. It is natural that there will always be debates between Cosatu affiliates and individuals — this is not only healthy but perfectly natural,” said Vavi at the briefing.
He said there were also robust debates, even in the CEC this week; these were never allowed to create divisions but were differences of opinion on specific tactical or strategic matters.
“The culture of the federation is to allow unions, leadership and membership to robustly debate these matters so that they are resolved internally within the structures of the organisation,” Vavi said.