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The escalation of tensions, including public spats between its leaders, is weakening the ANC’s tripartite alliance.
This is according to Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini, whose federation will go to an elective congress this week – the first without its formerly biggest affiliate, expelled metalworkers’ union Numsa, and former general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Dlamini said a divided and weakened alliance was bad for the ANC ahead of the 2016 local government elections.
“We have reason to worry because, in the end, it’s going to be us who will be voting for the ANC. It’s going to be us, the workers, who must mobilise our families to vote for the ANC.
“If we say to people the ANC is still relevant and capable of leading society and has managed to deal with its issues of disunity, how will we do that with the way things are right now?
“How are we going to mobilise our families? It’s not a good story to tell. It will be difficult [to campaign],” he said.
Dlamini said this was one of the issues that had to be looked into at Cosatu’s 12th elective congress, which starts at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand tomorrow.
“Congress will be very firm on that issue,” he said.
His comments come as tensions in the alliance increase, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where the SA Communist Party (SACP) branch has called on the party to quit the alliance and contest elections on its own.
The SACP said there were mounting calls from its members to break off the fractious alliance because there was a growing anti-communist sentiment in the governing party.
Party members claim “spooks” have been set on them, and their leaders are under constant surveillance.
Dlamini said the onslaught against the SACP and Cosatu, and the early contests by those positioning themselves to succeed President Jacob Zuma, were shifting the focus from the real issue – which was garnering support for the ANC as it headed into elections.
“We think this will spell disaster for the ANC and the alliance; it will weaken us further if we pursue the line that is emerging. The ANC has to reign over the issue of ill-discipline in the organisation.
“Leaders must act in a manner befitting a united ANC, which is the leader of society.”
Cosatu has been reported as having declared its support for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the race to succeed President Jacob Zuma. He is likely to square off against African Union commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has already indicated her interest in the position.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Progressive Professionals Forum gala dinner, where she was guest speaker, Dlamini-Zuma said it was up to ANC branches to decide if they wanted her as president. This was the clearest indication yet that she might be willing to challenge Ramaphosa in 2017.
The Cosatu president denied that it had thrown in its lot with Ramaphosa.
However, Mungwena Maluleke, general secretary of teachers’ union Sadtu – Cosatu’s third-biggest affiliate – said it was the principle and precedence in previous ANC national conferences that the party’s deputy president became the next president.
In a strong indication that they wanted Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma, Maluleke said: “We must ensure that any person serving as deputy must be allowed to be elected as president.”
Cosatu’s four-day congress could see the 2 500 expected delegates taking drastic decisions, including whether to withdraw support from the ANC over a proposed government policy to preserve workers’ pensions and provident funds. The proposal has angered the labour federation.
Maluleke said the Cosatu congress could not pass a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the ANC, but it had the capacity to assess the state of leadership in the alliance as a whole.
“Progress depends on leadership, and if we have not achieved that, then the leadership is failing us,” he said.
He cited the casualisation of labour, minimum wages and e-tolls as examples of issues that had made workers unhappy.
Other issues to be raised at the conference include possible changes to the constitution of Cosatu.
If Dlamini has his way, changes could extend to managing the autonomy of affiliates to ensure none of them can refuse intervention from national office bearers.
He said: “The conference must have a deeper
discussion. We’re not arguing for a situation where Cosatu takes over the leadership of a union.
“We’re saying Cosatu’s suggestions and interventions must be respected and taken seriously by the affiliates.
“A failure to do so will result in a split from a union.”
