Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma’s hopes of salvaging the floundering ANC-led tripartite alliance ahead of next year’s municipal elections through a national summit could be in jeopardy even before it starts on Thursday this week.
The ruling party appears to have shut the door on former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi’s return to the federation while any hopes of bringing the metalworkers union Numsa back into the fold appear to have faded.
Zuma’s wish to have the alliance summit appeared to finally materialise when the ANC’s extraordinary National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Friday resolved the indaba would start on Thursday this week.
But as preparations for the eagerly-awaited summit begin in earnest, the ANC seems reluctant to extend an olive branch to Vavi and Numsa.
“Our understanding is Vavi is as good as gone,” said a high-placed source who attended Friday’s extraordinary NEC meeting at St Georges Park, Pretoria.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Saturday gave the strongest signal yet that trying to bring back Vavi and Numsa would be clutching at straws.
“No, we are not going to individuals. It’s an alliance matter and we don’t have an alliance with individuals,” Mantashe said, also expressing a similar view on Numsa.
“Unity is not about Numsa. The unity is about these (tripartite alliance) organisations and their leagues. If they (Numsa) don’t want to be civil, then it’s their problem,” he said.
Vavi’s decision last week to publicly apologise to former president Thabo Mbeki for backing Zuma during a leadership tussle ahead of the ANC’s 2007 Polokwane conference, appears to have peeved some of the party’s senior leaders, especially those in the Zuma camp.
“He has been mobilising civil society against corruption, which has caused consternation within Cosatu and the tripartite alliance. Now he has… apologise(d) to Mbeki,” the source said, adding Vavi’s stance “wasn’t unexpected”.
Vavi was among the tripartite alliance senior leaders who mobilised for Zuma’s presidency ahead of the watershed 2007 ANC Polokwane conference before Mbeki was unceremoniously recalled a few months later, in 2008.
Vavi’s decision to apologise on Thursday can be construed as an expression of no confidence in Zuma’s administration, which has stumbled from corruption-related scandal to scandal.
The source said there was little hope, if any, to bring Numsa back into Cosatu as that might be seen as “a step too far to appeasing Numsa”. “Numsa is gone too. So what we were doing was to review that, how we got to that situation and deliberate on what we can do to salvage the tripartite alliance.”
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim was non-committal about the alliance summit when contacted on Saturday.
“We haven’t received an invite, but if we get it we will consider,” he said.
Asked about what his views were on the summit, Jim said: “I don’t know, I didn’t call it.”
Vavi could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini was also not available.
This comes as the ANC is struggling to convene its women and youth leagues.
Nathi Mthethwa, the convener of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) task team, established to revive the league, said on Saturday the league’s long-awaited national conference on Thursday had been postponed.
The conference had been hanging in the balance after the Pretoria High Court last week nullified the Limpopo provincial general council, after some regions filed complaints over outstanding disputes over branch audits.
The ANC Women’s League was earlier this month also postponed for the umpteenth time as disputes over branch audits continue.
With the ANC structures in shambles, the ANC is pinning its hopes of reviving its floundering support base among workers through the alliance summit.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa, emphasising the value of the tripartite alliance on Saturday, said: “The NEC is unanimous in its view that the unity and cohesion of the alliance is sacrosanct and that determined action should be taken to preserve, continue to build and strengthen the its capacity to provide the necessary leadership to society.”
Zuma has in many of his public addresses, including at the funerals of ANC stalwarts Moses Kotane and JB Marks, repeatedly expressed his desire for the alliance summit to mend the deepening rifts among some of the tripartite alliance members, notably in Cosatu.
The convening of the summit could be construed as an admission that the ANC task team, led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, to mediate had dismally failed.
Unity and cohesion within the alliance, and especially a united Cosatu, have always been the backbone of the ANC support base.
Numsa leaders, notably Jim, have often accused Mantashe and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande of orchestrating the divisions within Cosatu.
Despite Mantashe’s statements, another source said a fractured Cosatu torn down the middle remained a worry for the ANC as that could result in more industrial action and destabilise the economy, scaring investors.
“When we started we were better off and led this country without difficulty.
“We need to continue with our efforts to show we are an economically stable country that can continue to attract investment,” the source said, adding the unemployment was a grave concern to the ANC.
“Our understanding is we could have been better off if we had a code of ethics and protect the rights of workers without destabilising economic growth.
“Our employment rate is very low, especially among the youth.”
Meanwhile the NEC is said to have been pleased with Ramaphosa’s presentation on Eskom’s turnaround strategy. “The deputy president gave us assurance we are turning the corner. We discovered the situation very late, but we are turning the corner now,” the source said.
The Sunday Independent understands the problems besieging the ANC’s women and youth leagues remain of concern to the ANC.
“People in the ANC Women’s League have been tasked with finding a new date, after several dates were shifted, including the latest which was as a result of the funeral of Ruth Mompati. As soon as we get our (membership) audits right, we will go to conference,” said a source familiar with the matter.
The Sunday Independent