Johannesburg - Cosatu committed a grievous mistake by insisting on an alliance with the ANC after the 1994 advent of democracy because workers were bound to feel their interests were being compromised for political reasons.
This is the view of political economist Moeletsi Mbeki as he reflects on the prospect of Cosatu splitting down the middle following the expulsion last weekend of metalworkers union Numsa.
“The alliance was founded to fight apartheid and protect the interests of the workers and the poor. The unions were always going to feel that their interests were secondary and compromised for political expediency,” Mbeki said yesterday.
Although cracks in the alliance began to show in the first decade of post-apartheid South Africa, Mbeki traced the escalation of the federation’s crisis to the period following the ANC’s 2007 national conference. This was after Jacob Zuma was elected party president.
“Zuma has played a big role in this crisis. On the road to Polokwane, Zuma promised big support for the unions. He promised to change and introduce radical economic policies because the unions were unhappy with Gear (Growth Employment and Redistribution).”
Mbeki, who used to be critical of his elder brother, Thabo Mbeki, during his tenure as president, said Zuma had not taken long to raise the ire of the unions.
“As soon as he was elected, he went to London to assure the investors that he was not going to change anything. He also went to Washington to speak to Condoleezza Rice (then-US secretary of state) and assure (the US) that the policies were not going to change.
“That’s really where the trouble was bound to happen because the unions started to fight.”
Attempts to get comment from Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj were unsuccessful.
Mbeki said the simmering tensions between the alliance leaders appeared to spill out in the open at Cosatu’s 2012 national congress.
“I was there, as an invited guest, to observe. The ANC secretary-general (Gwede Mantashe) and the SACP general secretary (Blade Nzimande) were there.
“When Zwelinzima Vavi (Cosatu general secretary) presented his secretariat report, (Nzimande and Mantashe) stood up and attacked the report. It was shocking to many people how these two laid into Vavi and tried to trigger a vote of no confidence in him.
“The reason is Vavi has been outspoken about corruption and the (lack of transformation in the) economy. They were hoping for Vavi to be removed, but that didn’t succeed because Numsa intervened.”
Mbeki said part of the crisis in Cosatu was that the unions had become fragmented along political lines, with some aligned to the government and others not.
Sunday Independent