By Sakhela Buhlungu, Sunday Independent
Johannesburg - ‘A giant is born!’ proclaimed Cyril Ramaphosa
boldly as he opened the inaugural congress of Cosatu in December 1985.
Fast-forward to the eve of the federation’s 28th birthday, and we are
witnessing the same giant being reduced to a dwarf within a very short space of
time.
How might we explain this cataclysmic turn of events for
South Africa’s largest union body?
Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine a day when a
union such as the National Union of Mineworkers would face such a humiliating
defeat as we are seeing in the platinum sector, or when the general secretary
of the federation would be ejected (well, for the moment) for what sounds like
a jobs-for-sex scandal.
Are we seeing the realisation of the worst elements of the
1997 September Commission’s scenarios, Skorokoro and The Desert?
The organisational meltdown in Cosatu can be understood in
terms of three broad explanations – organisational, political and economic.
There is no doubt that the organisational architecture that
makes up the federation has been under severe stress, particularly over the
past 10 years.
The much-publicised “worker control” model, whereby workers
control union structures through processes of mandating and report-backs, has
virtually collapsed.
As a result, union decision-making has now become a top-down
affair, with national leaders deciding what the mandate should be.
Internal union education and training has ceased, and
general meetings with members are a thing of the past in many unions.
Indeed, so dire is the service to members that the food and
the education and health affiliates have been taken to court by members for
failing to defend them, while those in mining and transport are facing
competition from splinter unions.
The demarcation of sectors as envisaged in the federation’s
“one union, one industry” policy is collapsing rapidly as unions organise or
poach members across their designated sectors.
A case in point is the National Union of Metalworkers of
SA’s organising campaign in energy and mining, which is a sore point for the
National Union of Mineworkers, and is among the reasons the mining union is
baying for Vavi’s blood.
Over and above these are a myriad other organisational
issues – such as corruption, incompetence of organisers, competition for
leadership positions, ethnic conflicts, and collusion with employers at the
expense of workers.
Of course, the quest for upward mobility is one of the main
drivers of these problems, and a main contributor to the neglect of
organisation-building.
In a context such as this, improper sexual relations are
common, as those in leadership positions or with money generally use their
power to extract sexual favours.
Vavi was simply unlucky to get caught, as many others engage
in similar, and even more brazen, instances of abuse of positions.
But Cosatu’s woes extend beyond internal organisational
difficulties. The politics of the tripartite alliance has been at the heart of
Cosatu’s problems for a while now.
Remember when then-Cosatu president Willy Madisha was
ejected for “bringing the organisation into disrepute” by supporting Thabo
Mbeki when the general drift was in favour of Jacob Zuma?
Remember, too, the incident in June 2010 when the ANC
threatened to discipline Vavi for criticising Zuma and some of his ministers?
Cosatu has been warned on countless occasions that a blank
cheque alliance with a governing party contains many dangers.
But they have ignored these warnings, arguing instead that
they cannot be compared with other unions in Africa and other developing
countries.
Yet evidence presented in a book we published in 2010 shows
that all unions face the risk of marginalisation and subordination by the
ruling party. There can be no doubt that Cosatu’s allies have been irritated by
the bold and militant rhetoric of Vavi and others such as Numsa’s Irvin Jim.
Over the past few years, the ANC and the SACP have taken
steps to win over some Cosatu leaders by co-opting them into their top
structures, and to isolate those who are not amenable to such action.
Vavi is clearly a victim of this, and there was no way he
could last in an environment where virtually all Cosatu central executive committee
members are active members, or even national executive committee or central
committee members, of the ANC and SACP respectively.
The sex scandal came as a godsend, and there is no doubt
they will exploit it fully.
The current economic climate is the third dimension
contributing to the federation’s present challenges.
The constituency in which the federation organises is
feeling the squeeze in an economy performing poorly in the context of workplace
restructuring, technological change and high unemployment.
It was this restlessness that triggered the events in the
Rustenburg area long before the Marikana tragedy, while Cosatu’s mining
affiliate continued to produce improbable conspiracy theories and pontificate
from a distance.
The reality is that workers in dire economic circumstances
begin to get a sense of relative deprivation and start exploring other avenues
to improve their lot, particularly when their union is ineffectual.
Furthermore, workers hear the stories about some of the
shaft stewards, regional and national leaders’ generous earnings and relatively
lavish lifestyles. That is why the “Five Madoda” committees and later the
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union emerged on the platinum
mines.
The brutal response of the state to what was essentially an
industrial action has resulted in the state, the ruling ANC, the SACP (which
continues to demonise the workers as vigilantes) and Cosatu leaders being
perceived as unsympathetic to the workers’ economic plight.
This past week, all three dimensions converged in three
rather tragic ways.
The workers of Marikana commemorated the first anniversary
of the 2012 killings and received widespread expressions of sympathy and
solidarity from far and wide.
But Cosatu, the ANC and the SACP were conspicuous by their
absence, while other political parties jostled for front seats at the event.
Many fingers continue to be pointed at President Jacob Zuma
and his government for what is the first government massacre of citizens in the
post-apartheid period.
But what many do not mention is that Marikana is an
indictment of Cosatu, and therefore represents a tragic and dark chapter in the
federation’s history.
It is a case of terrible failure by the leadership, and the
least it can do is to attend the commemoration and begin the healing process.
Future generations will regard this as a missed opportunity
of re-uniting the labour movement.
The second development was the suspension of Vavi as general
secretary of Cosatu and his subsequent announcement that he will challenge the
suspension in court.
Many, including those who disagree with him, are saddened by
these developments, because he was seen to represent something morally superior
to what we see in most of our politicians.
In a strange way, many pinned their hopes for the future on
him.
Sadly, Vavi has his own flaws. He has run the federation on
a tight leash, and some would argue he did not brook any opposition from his
subordinates. He also presided over the dishonourable discharge of several
leaders, chief among them former vice-president Peter Malepe and former
president Willy Madisha.
In the past, he managed to wriggle free of accusations of
impropriety, including one of using a union credit card to hire a car for his
then-girlfriend, now wife. In short, Vavi is not entirely a victim in the
current circumstances. The people he claims are “rubbing salt” into his wounds
are not only his political enemies, but also his current and past victims and
casualties.
The third was the revelation of an “intelligence report”
linking Vavi and several others to a plot to overthrow the government.
Whatever one thinks of this report, the fact of the matter
is that the use of state resources that was a major grievance against Thabo
Mbeki’s administration continues unabated under Zuma, and probably to an even
greater degree.
Whatever we think of these developments, Cosatu is the
casualty and the workers are the losers.
