Apologies for the delay in sending this. It comes on the day the congress opened
with unity revealed in non-contested nominations for national office bearers.
COSATU CONGRESS WILL PAPER OVER THE CRACKS
(September 17, 2012)
Amid unprecedented media interest, Cosatu’s eleventh national congress gets
underway in Midrand on Monday. Many of the nearly 300 journalists, photographers
and members of camera crews accredited to attend the event are clearly expecting
drama.
Such expectations and interest are understandable, given the present turmoil in the
mining sector and the proximity of the ANC elective conference in Mangaung, let
alone the ongoing anti-union antics of former ANC Youth League leader Julius
Malema. Cosatu members, after all, often play prominent roles in ANC branches that
will start their nomination processes for the ANC leadership before month end.
It is also no secret that there are daggers drawn between different union leaderships
on the basis of who supports and who opposes a second term for President Jacob
Zuma. As such, the Cosatu gathering has been portrayed quite widely as a “mini
Mangaung”.
But the likelihood of such matters reaching the congress floor in any seriously
acrimonious sense are slim. Even slimmer is the much mooted chance of a challenge
being mounted against Cosatu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.
Vavi has played the role of a serious critic and maverick from time to time, only to
confound this by what has been described as politically schizophrenic expressions of
loyalty to the political status quo. But his apparently contradictory statements have
merely been examples of the over-riding concept of unity at all costs that has for
decades governed the broad church that is the ANC-led alliance.
This approach has always meant that differences within the alliance, even on matters
of principle, should be resolved “within the family”, often by sweeping them under
the carpet. It is a hangover from the clandestine organisation of the exile years when
the sole object was the defeat of apartheid, a goal supported by elements of the
political Left, Right and Centre. As both a broad church and the major movement
opposed to apartheid the ANC also laid claim to be the only “true representative of
the South African people”.
This latter claim was never true, but it was also imported into the new dispensation,
with claims that any who did not support the ANC or its alliance partners were not
only mistaken, they were the enemy. If you are not for us, you are against us, was
and — to a surprisingly large degree — still is the attitude of many within the
governing alliance.
It is this that has bred intolerance, arrogance and complacency at various levels and
has helped to bring about much of the fragmentation and tension now tearing at the
fabric of the broad church. But unity for the trade union element of the alliance is
seen now as even more important than ever.
As the almost daily protests and clashes around the country have shown, there is
considerable anger on the ground, the cause of it best summed up in two words:
poverty and joblessness. Marikana was merely the most bloody and tragic example
of what is happening from Khayalitsha to Kuruman and beyond.
The desire to escape penury is the common motivation for the residents of the shack
farms surrounding Marikana and other mines and the protestors who have thrown up
burning barricades across numerous streets around the country. They are the working
and workless poor who make up an unorganised army of the dispossessed, who
should be the natural constituency of the labour movement.
That the movement has lost touch with much of this constituency was highlighted by
the ease with which Malema was able to exploit the anger, insecurity an frustration of
working miners. As this has unfolded, there has also been a great deal of nonsense
talked about wage levels, with former president F. W. de Klerk claiming that miners
earn in excess of R11 000 a month.
Cosatu unions in particular were put on the back foot by such claims. And one of
their failings was not to adequately respond, even if only to point out that De Klerk’s
“cost to the company” figure went well beyond wages and was an average that
included the many millions paid to executives and managers.
Belatedly there seems to be a realisation that the initial focus on attacking rival
unions was a mistake; that a united, coherent response to the bread and butter issues
that affect both miners and other workers should have been the best way forward. It
could have been stressed, for example, that while miners top the league for minimum
pay agreements, their minimum, up to this year, was just R4 311 a month.
In a country with a probably realistic unemployment rate of 40 per cent or more, the
number of dependents every worker supports also tends to be high. And all share the
common burden of the cost of food, transport, school fees and medical expenses.
Such costs have generally exceeded wage rises, meaning that many workers have,
effectively, suffered pay cuts. Over the past three years a basic basket of groceries,
measured for several years by this column, has risen by 40 per cent. And this is
before the latest fuel price rises have fed through to the rest of the economy and
before the further increases in the prices of wheat and maize have fully been felt.
It is this minimum or low-wage factor — and the poor living conditions and lack of
amenities that flow from it — that provides fuel for the fires of rebellion and the
demand for change.
Traditionally, disgruntled elements have turned to the major labour movement for
support. But it is clear that certainly the National Union of Mineworkers has lost
credibility with a large part of its constituency — and the events that followed have
been a wake-up call for both NUM and Cosatu.
As a result, the last thing Cosatu affiliates will want is a display of disunity at
congress as they try, in fact, to get back to basics and rectify obvious shortcomings.
However, these are volatile times and a maverick element could always intrude.