{"id":352,"date":"2012-10-07T21:50:07","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T21:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2012\/10\/07\/cosatu-congress-2-terry-bell-2012\/"},"modified":"2012-10-07T21:50:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-07T21:50:07","slug":"cosatu-congress-2-terry-bell-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2012\/10\/07\/cosatu-congress-2-terry-bell-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"COSATU Congress (2) – Terry Bell (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nCosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven was amazed at the media interest shown in the
\neleventh national congress of the federation. Shortly before the congress opened its
\ndoors, 347 media accreditations had been processed, with additional enquiries still
\nbeing dealt with.
\nWhat was obvious was that the widespread \u201cmini Mangaung\u201d hype generated by the
\nmedia itself \u2014 this column excepted \u2014 was generally believed: metaphoric blood
\non the floor among the 3 000 delegates was expected. Even if it did not come to pass,
\nPresident Jacob Zuma, as keynote speaker, might well deliver some comment,
\nespecially about the mayhem at Marikana, that would warrant such media attention.
\nBut there was no day of the long knives on Monday as the entire sitting executive
\nwas elected unopposed, with only the police and prisons union, Popcru raising an unseconded
\nproposal that additional nominations from the floor be considered. And
\nZuma\u2019s predictable input about the need for unity was hardly headline material and
\nthe media battalions retreated, leaving behind a largely local journalistic core trying
\nto assess the width and depth of the political and ideological cracks beneath the often
\nconfusing rhetoric.
\nHowever, Zuma did make an apparently unreported, off-the-cuff reference to the
\nBible that summed up the ideological root of the broad church governing alliance: he
\nappealed to congress to learn from Christians who, at church every Sunday, were
\nreminded of what they should do and what their roles were.
\nIn the process he noted, without elaboration, that Christians were reminded of John
\nChapter 14, verse 6 just as alliance members should be reminded of the words of
\nANC heroes such as former president, Chief Albert Luthuli.
\nThe reference to the Book of John is the Biblical verse frequently paraphrased
\npolitically as: \u201cWe are the truth, the life and the way. No-one comes to the
\nrevolution but by us.\u201d Perhaps Zuma did not mean it as the ANC-led alliance being
\nthe only true way forward. But the comment reinforced the analysis of academic
\nSomadoda Fikeni who, in rather controversial circumstances, addressed the congress
\nas a substitute speaker.
\nFikeni noted that what has generally not been appreciated is the way the ANC
\nalliance has managed to deal with contradictions, taking matters to the brink and then
\npulling back. This, he said, was \u201cthe genius of the alliance\u201d. He could have added:
\n\u201cIt is also the major fault.\u201d
\nBecause, as Fikeni agrees, the manner in which the pull-backs are achieved, is simply
\nby painting a veneer of unity at all costs over often bitter divisions in what is seen as
\nthe only true way forward. Radical rhetoric and acronym-laden policy proposals \u2014
\nRDP, Gear, Asgisa and NGP \u2014 also create verbal screens that disguise the fact that
\nnothing, basically, has changed.
\nThe same approach, accompanied by often wooly rhetoric was clearly in evidence at
\nthis Cosatu congress. However, the fact that the congress took place at what is
\narguably a critical and possibly defining moment in the country\u2019s history, was also
\nacknowledged \u2014 and this raised many concerns about the future.
\nAcknowledgement came, officially, in the secretariat political report presented by
\ngeneral secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. This was criticised, roundly at at some length, by
\nthe ANC, members of the SA Communist Party (SACP) and various delegates for
\nbeing too negative about the alliance.
\nSome of the same delegates who had earlier opposed allowing Fikeni \u2014 a critic of
\ngovernment policy who is not a trade unionist \u2014 to address the congress, questioned
\nwhether the report had been written by Cosatu members or by the academic. The
\ndebate finally ended with Vavi pointing out that all affiliates, as well as the ANC and
\nthe SACP, had been sent the report two months earlier and been asked to comment on
\nit. The few comments received were taken into account and amendments made.
\nWhat annoyed the critics on the congress floor was the stress in the report on trade
\nunion independence and an admission that the alliance faced a crisis. They failed to
\nnote that, in what is now standard procedure, the critical aspects of the report were
\nbalanced out by professions of unconditional loyalty such as: \u201cThe political task of
\nthe working class in this juncture is to defend the [ANC] leadership collective.\u201d
\nSo, amid warnings about the danger of paralysis at this crucial period, the same
\ntactics were applied with little, if any, consideration of the likely consequences these
\nmay have in coming months and years. These could be severe, but the ANC-led
\nalliance is still seen by all factions as the only vehicle to the future.
\nBehind the scenes the struggles will continue and the precarious balance of multiple
\ncontradictions along with the potential for further paralysis may be broken, perhaps
\nin an authoritarian manner or via the development of a radically democratic
\nalternative, referred to, especially by Vavi, as a \u201cLula Moment\u201d.
\nA broad hint of this alternative, along with implied criticism of the present situation
\nis contained on the second page of each of the ten books of reports and resolutions
\nproduced for the congress. It is the brief last interview given in March 1993 by
\nassassinated SACP leader Chris Hani, in which Hani outlined what a new ANC
\ngovernment should do.
\nHani called for a culture of \u201cservice to the people\u201d that would include cutting down
\nthe \u201csalaries of ministers, of parliamentarians and all [their] subsidies\u201d. In an ironic
\ntwist, the congress began with Vavi reading out the interview on the very day that the
\npay rise to R2.6 million to the key note speaker was announced.
\nHani also called on the ANC to allow the \u201cformation of many democratic formations\u201d
\nthat would include \u201cindependent trade unions\u201d, a fact Vavi underlined \u2014 to the
\nannoyance of several delegates. Yet Vavi was elected unopposed. As were the other
\noffice bearers.
\nIn this respect, Cosatu in Midrand may be seen as a rehearsal for Mangaung, in the
\nsense that the leader will remain in place, perhaps professing a new, radical way
\nforward while growing divisions remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}