The fracture between the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) has spilled over into the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) conference, according to senior sources.
On Tuesday, day two of the congress descended into chaos when a delegate who had been calling for the congress to be postponed called others “ancestors” and “illiterate”, sparking a heated exchange of insults in plenary.
The Mail & Guardian understands that former leaders of all the unions, including ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe and SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila, convened a meeting during lunch to find a solution. However, they could not agree, forcing the congress to be postponed to a later date.
On Tuesday, around 1pm, the congress was forced to adjourn for lunch. The leaders returned to plenary around 6pm, only to tell delegates that they could not agree on a way forward, forcing the postponement.
The stumbling block was that the current first deputy president of Cosatu and president of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU), Mike Shingange, had been precautionarily suspended by his home union.
His precautionary suspension has raised questions over his eligibility to stand for the presidency of Cosatu. However, Cosatu general secretary Solly Phetoe told the congress that Shingange had not been removed as a NEHAWU shop steward.
Phetoe said that Shingange’s suspension was based on the NEHAWU constitution, not the Cosatu constitution.
“Therefore, Comrade Mike is still the first deputy president of Cosatu. This was presented to the leadership.”
Current Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi wants to stand for general secretary, a move that those aligned with Shingange do not want.
Losi is viewed as aligned with the ANC, while Shingange is viewed as being much closer to the SACP.
Outside the venue, posters reading “Vote ANC” and “Vote SACP” were seen hanging, raising questions about whether Cosatu would pronounce its support for the ANC or the SACP ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
In late 2024, the SACP announced that, for the first time since the advent of democracy, it would contest elections on its own.
Sources told the publication that the split between the SACP and the ANC had played a part in the infighting among delegates.
One senior source said they had reached a compromise that Shingange should stand despite the controversy surrounding his name. However, his supporters wanted to collapse the congress.
“The issue is that they do not want Zingisa on the ballot at all and we cannot allow that. They also want to collapse the congress because they know they do not have the numbers.”
Another source said there were certain leaders who wanted power by any means, even if it meant that they would collapse the alliance.
“If there were no issues between the ANC and the SACP, I don't think this would be happening. It is really sad to watch. Some leaders just want power to the point that they are willing to do whatever it takes.”
The M&G also understands that the ANC did not want to take a position on the matter but wanted Cosatu to resolve its own internal crisis.
Speaking to M&G, Cosatu spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the ANC and SACP question was going to be debated at the congress, adding that ever since the SACP decided to contest elections independently, Cosatu had been asked these questions.
Sabela said the Cosatu leadership had been clear that this was not the kind of decision that leaders could make alone but that it needed to be taken to congress, as it is the highest decision-making structure.
“This was going to be deliberated under the political report. The members were going to decide where we were going,” she said.
“Going to the congress, everyone who is not Cosatu or an affiliate assumed that the main question which would be discussed was the ANC and SACP. There is more to the congress than that.”
“Essentially, it is about worker issues. Workers are facing really difficult times out there, unemployment is quite high and our economy has not grown by more than 1% over a decade.”
Sabela said that, over and above the election of office bearers and the ANC-SACP question, they needed to talk about the issues facing workers. She added that she was not sure how anyone who said the congress was about the ANC and SACP, had come to that conclusion.
The reason the former leaders were called to intervene was because they might have had better ways or strategies to help the leadership find common ground and ensure that the stalemate was broken, given their past experiences, Sabela explained.