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As if fighting off a Hawks investigation was not enough, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan now finds himself in the cross hairs of Cosatu, which wants President Jacob Zuma to rein in Treasury.
In an interview with City Press after last week’s three-day central executive committee (CEC) meeting, Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini did not mince his words as he described Treasury as a “threat” that must be defeated.
Cosatu believes Treasury is frustrating progress on the roll-out of the universal National Health Insurance (NHI), a comprehensive social security system, and a national minimum wage. Constituent members of the National Economic Development and Labour Council have for several years been engaged in fraught negotiations over social security and the minimum wage.
The trade union federation, which has challenged the power and autonomy of Treasury since the days of former president Thabo Mbeki and Gordhan’s predecessor, Trevor Manuel, is now also training its guns on other ministries in which its most powerful affiliates are represented.
Also on its target list are Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane.
These ministers’ sectors are organised by teachers’ union Sadtu, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union and the National Union of Mineworkers – three of Cosatu’s powerhouses.
Cosatu is also preparing for another round of battle with Treasury over the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, even though the implementation of the contentious provisions has been delayed until 2018.
Arguing that Treasury was one of several ministries that were undermining the ANC-led tripartite alliance, Dlamini said Zuma’s intervention “strengthens his legacy”.
Dlamini told City Press that Cosatu had observed that there were “open, bold attempts to derail the NHI” on the part of Treasury and the health department.
He said that was the reason “we are very much firm President Zuma must intervene”.
“We are calling for the president of the Republic, as part of the legacy as he is exiting a few years from now, to take up this programme and intervene so that NHI is realised during his term of office,” said Dlamini.
Alliance insiders told City Press that Cosatu’s taking on Gordhan was meant to shift the attacks on him away from his standoff with the Hawks to policy issues.
They said there was a determination to cut him down to size as he regarded himself as a “super-minister who is untouchable” ever since Zuma was forced to appoint him to replace Des van Rooyen in December.
The shift towards policy-based attacks was evident from the outcome of the Cosatu CEC, in which Gordhan was attacked over the harsh effects of Treasury-administered austerity measures on public servants and the working class.
Treasury also came under fire for spending too much time pacifying foreign investor sentiment and not shifting government policy in line with the ANC’s resolution to achieve radical economic transformation.
The continued portrayal of Gordhan as untouchable is also said by insiders to have raised tempers in Cosatu ranks, with leaders saying the same people that want “special treatment” for him with regard to the investigation into the so-called rogue unit at the SA Revenue Service, are the same who wanted Zuma to face corruption charges.
Dlamini defended Cosatu’s muddying of Gordhan’s track record and added that the timing had nothing to do with current woes faced by the finance minister.
Dlamini said the same issues had many times been raised with Gordhan and others who had occupied his seat.
“We are not going to be hoodwinked or blackmailed into silence because there is a current moment affecting Treasury,” he said.
Cosatu’s position appears to be at odds with that of the SACP, with whom the federation has closer ties than it does with the ANC.
The SACP has come out firmly in support of Gordhan in his fight with the Hawks and it has been very vocal about the Gupta family’s alleged capture of the state.
The SACP’s second general secretary, Solly Mapaila, has openly said the Hawks’ pursuit of Gordhan was part of a political agenda.
According to Cosatu leaders, the federation has been unhappy about the SACP “going with the wind based on information that is not tested anywhere”.
They warned that the SACP’s vociferousness on the Gordhan matter was creating
unnecessary tensions and could lead to the communists finding themselves isolated in the alliance.
There was a view within the alliance that the SACP had opened itself up to gossip, such as taking seriously rumours about a Gupta-inspired Cabinet reshuffle that would mainly affect SACP ministers.
Meanwhile, Dlamini anticipated that there would be a bilateral meeting with the SACP and the ANC to discuss the issue of state capture by white business.
He said this was capture due to predemocracy sunset clause agreements that “we will not touch the wealth of the white minority”.
He said it would also be prudent to meet with the SACP and “compare notes to ensure that we share the same perspective and information”.
Dlamini is also a member of the ANC’s national executive committee and sits on the Politburo of the SACP.
“I believe at the end of that engagement, we will tell you we are talking the same language,” said Dlamini.
