Yesterday I was glued to my television screen watching and listening to National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim screaming revolutionary rhetoric during these peaceful democratic times. He called a press conference to give his reaction to Numsa’s expulsion from Cosatu.
But I am left confused about this latest development in our politics. Most of the early news analysis on the expulsion has been rather uncritical of Numsa, and of Jim in particular. The reasons for this are twofold: Jim and Numsa are connected to Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi in the minds of most labour and political reporters, and as Vavi is well loved by most of this cohort, Numsa and Jim by association don’t get closely examined.
The other reason why Numsa’s politics doesn’t get a close examination is because we are all, myself included, desperate for competitive politics, which is the lifeblood of a functioning democracy. Our politics isn’t sufficiently competitive yet.
The ANC underperforms hugely in places like Port Elizabeth, and the incentive of a real chance of it losing power is necessary to get it to be less complacent. The hope is that if Numsa formed a political party or actively discouraged its members and supporters from voting for the ANC, it would be good for democracy and increase the prospects of improved service delivery and a responsive government.
But one must separate reality from wishful thinking. I would love a six-pack, but have to keep it real about this stubborn mkhaba following me around. Similarly, while there are decent prospects of us becoming a more competitive multiparty democracy eventually, there are political realities that need to tame the excitement about what Numsa’s expulsion means.
First, Numsa doesn’t have a distinctive political identity. Either that or I lack the gift of interpretation and don’t get what it is. All I have heard so far are repeated references to “socialism”, “workers’ rights” and a “democratic left” agenda. That is about as substantive and detailed as saying you’re standing for world peace.
During the question and answer session yesterday, Jim made it clear that the real difference between groups within Cosatu is that some, like Numsa, are determined to fight for the rights of workers while others are actively trying to undermine such an agenda. As if the affiliate members who voted in favour of expulsion would define themselves as working against the interests of the working class. They would claim what Jim is claiming.
I was looking for an articulation of a clear ideological foundation for a political project that defines itself in opposition to the ANC, and/or those groups with which Numsa disagrees politically within Cosatu. But nothing Jim has said so far has filled this ideological gap. He needs to mind that gap and close it.
This matters. Just remember how long Cope lasted before it collapsed. Some of you may even recall – what was its name again? – AgangSA, I think. That party, too, whose leader’s name escapes me, collapsed due to (among many reasons, of course) not being built on a solid political foundation. At the time, many of us were lampooned for being impatient when we asked, from the outset, what this party’s mission was, what its identity was. Agang had a short political lifespan that can only be characterised as having been nasty and brutish.
Whatever you think of the DA and EFF, both of these opposition parties (especially the EFF) have identifiable political identities. Well, the DA is rather opaque these days, but one can fill several columns having a decent go at making sense of these parties. The same could not be said of Cope or Agang.
And in addition, of course, the collapse of Cope also warns us about starting a party only on the basis of being unhappy with the ANC. What has Numsa said so far that demonstrates an understanding of these pitfalls, and a case for why and how it will avoid these? Fokol… yet.
Remember when Dr Mampara launched her party political platform? We were all like, “What is a platform?” It was confusing. Decisiveness, and clarity, is crucial in political communication. It’s also crucial to have structures and money, to build structures and fund-raise and be good at running campaigns, at getting into communities.
The ANC, frankly, deserves a thumping in the local elections in 2016, especially in places like Port Elizabeth. But the truth is that the ANC is bloody brilliant at running effective political campaigns. If only it ran the state as well as it runs election campaigns, we’d be an amazing country.
You cannot assume that having union members means Numsa has reach into the households of enough voters to be a game-changer. It has a lot of work to do. And let’s not forget just how loyal unhappy ANC voters, including many metalworkers, are about the party they diss between elections.
* Eusebius McKaiser is the best-selling author of A Bantu In My Bathroom and Could I Vote DA? A Voter’s Dilemma. He is currently working on his third book, Searching For Sello Duiker.
** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media.
The Star