Trade union federation Cosatu has defended its decision to back two of its traditional allies, the ANC and the SA Communist Party ahead of next Wednesday’s local government elections to preserve the tripartite alliance’s unity.
At its 15th national congress two weeks ago, Cosatu resolved on what it described as a socialist axis and working-class electoral strategy by taking a principled position for continued support of the alliance as a strategic centre, and to keep the unity of workers by supporting the ANC and the SACP in the upcoming 2026 local government elections.
The move followed the SACP’s decision at its fifth special national congress in December 2024 to contest next week’s municipal polls independently.
According to Cosatu, it resolved that in the context of the upcoming elections, its national congress mandate calls for principled support for the ANC and the SACP, with the objective of strengthening working-class unity and advancing a programme that responds to workers’ demands.
Cosatu called the resolution to support both the ANC and the SACP a “super resolution”.
The federation’s general-secretary Zingiswa Losi said the super resolution is very clear and that Cosatu does not have to navigate it but just to implement it.
“We’ve been on the ground practicalising it. There was an appreciation within the federation at the 15th national congress that the federation represents members of both political formations, the SACP and the ANC,” Losi explained.
She added that during the national congress, there were draft resolutions that were in support of the SACP and the ANC but delegates to the gathering said “we will not allow this federation to be divided on the basis of the two political formations”.
“The unity of the federation is important, it is important to workers because beyond political parties, this federation must remain to advance the struggle of workers and society at large. And if we want to fragment ourselves because we want to make a choice between the two, you would have incapacitated a giant that must address the challenges that the workers are facing,” stated Losi.
She said the super resolution allowed members of the federation to choose.
“Those who want to vote for the ANC at the ballot will vote for the ANC, those that want to vote for the SACP will vote for the SACP,” Losi said.
She continued: “For us, it is to vote for the alliance because we think that the alliance remains important as all alliance partners are reaffirming its importance.”
Losi said Cosatu will exist beyond November 4 and that the federation must be able to implement the 15th national congress mandate.
“So we reaffirm the centrality and the importance of the alliance; so we’re supporting the alliance. There is no way of navigating, you go to the ballot, you choose.”
She said if the ANC can tolerate the party being in alliance with the DA and Freedom Front Plus in the Government of National Unity (GNU) and any other right wing political parties, it should be easy for the ANC and the SACP, in alliance, to form a government led by the alliance.
“So our super resolution is very simple, it’s about the unity of the alliance,” she further stated.
Cosatu has over 1.5-million members across 16 affiliates, of which the largest is the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) with nearly 283,000 and the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union with almost 267,000, according to membership figures presented at the national congress.
The federation’s president Mike Shingange said there was also the issue of the multiparty engagement forum.
“This is in realisation of the fact that we know that we are going to go into a coalition by the look of things... We will not accept a coalition with organisations that are supportive of neoliberal agendas or what we call right wing, that seek to reverse the gains of the revolution, that seek to attack the rights of workers,” he said.
Shingange explained that the municipalities are employers and if the workers’ rights are compromised by any of the leadership of the municipalities, then Cosatu will be compromised as a trade union federation.
Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, acting head of the Department of History and Political Studies at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), told the Mail&Guardian that the SACP’s decision was down to the ANC losing support and the organisation not being included in the GNU.
Among its officials, only national chairperson Dr. Blade Nzimande was included, Breakfast added.
He said usually, the general-secretary of the SACP was included and that this may have angered the party.
Breakfast added that both the ANC and the SACP will fish from the same pond during the municipal polls.
“There was a decision taken in 2007 in NMU (at the SACP’s national congress in Gqeberha) that the SACP would not leave the alliance but would swell the ranks of the ANC,” he explained.
At the conclusion of Cosatu’s national congress, the ANC said it is the working-class power and consciousness that was necessary to deliver its victory in the forthcoming municipal elections.
“This can be achieved through the unity of the workers and broader struggles beyond narrow workerism. With a successful congress outcome, and the unity of the workers, the ANC is poised for an overwhelming victory in the forthcoming local government elections. The strength of the workers, united under Cosatu, is the strength of the ANC as a vehicle for socioeconomic transformation,” the party said.
The Workers and Socialist Party has accused Cosatu of continuing to subordinate workers' struggles to the electoral needs of the ANC.