Let’s call it what it is: the push for hegemony in the tripartite alliance needs the Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to make way so that all three alliance structures can sing from the same hymn sheet.
Last year, at the South African Communist Party’s conference, there was no contest for leadership positions and seemingly few differences about the ideological direction of the party: the party is one. At Mangaung, the ANC also consolidated itself under one faction, which is strongly loyal to President Jacob Zuma. The opponents within were clearly defeated.
Just the trade union federation Cosatu is left to be dealt with. Its main leader, Vavi, positions it independently and, in the process, offends the dominant discourse in the alliance. Before we even look at the validity of the accusations that have been made against Vavi, I think we must accept that it is the struggle for hegemony that is driving the fight Vavi now has on his hands.
Last week, at Cosatu’s central executive committee meeting, Vavi’s opponents arrived with a plan meant to get him out — and it looked well prepared. They had done some digging and examined several financial transactions he was involved in. The results appeared to impugn his integrity and to punch holes in his image as a corruption fighter. These included the sale of Cosatu’s old building and the purchase of a new one.
Vavi has vowed to resign if any allegation of financial impropriety is proved against him. What is not clear is whether his foes are genuinely convinced that there is a case against him or whether they simply want to attack his Mr Clean character and cast a shadow in the public arena.
A second strategy was to question his political performance and accountability, which they did by insisting that he had been frequently articulating positions that were not mandated by Cosatu. They also alleged he was aligning himself with opponents of the ANC government.
Secondary battles
Over the years, Vavi has moved away from the position that “Zuma is unstoppable” to being a big critic of Zuma and his administration. Although he believes that he is representing members of the unions when he speaks out on poor governance and corruption, his fellow union leaders seem to believe that he has positioned himself as an opponent of the current administration alongside opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance.
Vavi must fight his own battles, even if there are outpourings of support from liberal quarters as well as from others who believe democracy itself is under attack and all who love this country should stand by him.
In pushing back, though, Vavi will hopefully not resort to what his foes often do, which is to attack the messenger. His initial reaction after the reports of what transpired at the meeting was to suggest that journalists who had reported on it were part of an “agenda”, in collaboration with “faceless sources”, to get at him. That is being disingenuous because he knows precisely who the people are. They are not “faceless”; they openly raised their issues with him, to his face, and those discussions were subsequently leaked to the media. Nothing unusual there.
Granted, he might have a case when he argues that it is possible the deliberations were spun in particular ways when relayed to the media. Still, he must locate the origin of the attack in the right place and not engage in secondary battles.
We in the media also have a responsibility here. It is not to pretend that we have investigated him and have built up a damning case against him, on the basis of which he needs to explain himself. We must be clear that this is a bagful of accusations that his detractors, who want him out, have brought up and that we are just repeating these claims in the public arena, not endorsing them.
Instead, Vavi’s detractors must provide evidence of their claims and allow them to be investigated rigorously. Vavi must be part of a process in which he can respond to the claims.
Ultimately, it is up to Cosatu to clean out its house. Some have already pronounced that the chickens are coming home to roost for Vavi, who was part of the leadership who kicked out the former Cosatu president Willie Madisha in a similar way. In Vavi’s favour, though, is that he is very popular among the general membership of Cosatu and whoever wants him out will have to overcome that barrier. It may be the hardest part to deal with.