Cosatu, which became the first alliance partner to support President Cyril Ramaphosa’s successful campaign for ANC presidency in 2017, has resolved not to support his bid for re-election as ANC leader during the party’s national elective conference, starting on December 16.
“That’s because we have not had a discussion about it. Normally, we would discuss the matter at our congress or central executive committee (CEC), where there would be a robust discussion,” said Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange.
“This time around, workers were seized with so many things that they needed to attend to, rather than prioritising a discussion about the ANC.”
The labour federation, which has a membership of 1.6-million and has always supported the ANC during elections since 1994, is angry after the government refused to implement the last part of a three-year wage deal signed at the public service co-ordinating bargaining council (PSCBC) in 2018. The Constitutional Court in February ruled the government did not have to implement the last leg as unions were “unjustifiably enriched from the impugned” pay deal.
Relations between Cosatu and the governing ANC took a turn for the worst when public service & administration acting minister Thulas Nxesi unilaterally implemented a final, revised 3% wage increase for public servants, as per the numbers in the medium-term budget policy statement of October 26.
The public service unions are now threatening to embark on an indefinite strike in support of their demands for a 10% increase, after talks collapsed at the PSCBC. Cosatu affiliate, SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), broke ranks with its sister unions in public service when it accepted the 3% offer.
At its national congress in Midrand in September, Cosatu’s largest affiliates including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, SA Municipal Workers Union and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, called for the labour federation to immediately dump the ANC and support the SACP during the provincial and national elections in 2024.
The matter was put to a vote — as other affiliates wanted the decision to be deferred to a special congress in 2023 — and the results are yet to be made public by Cosatu.
Ramaphosa was expected to address the Cosatu congress but pulled out at the eleventh hour and was replaced by ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe, who was booed and prevented from addressing delegates.
At the same conference, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi, a close Ramaphosa ally, called on delegates to defend the ANC, which she said remained the best vehicle to advance workers’ struggles.
Speaking to Business Day on Wednesday, Shingange said discussions about which ANC presidential candidate to support always left the organisation “fractured”.
“This time around we decided to maximise our unity rather than focusing on things that have the potential to divide us over who to support or not to support,” he said.
Shingange admitted that the government’s ill-advised decision to renege on the 2018 wage deal was among issues adding to the problems workers had with the ANC.
In a statement on Wednesday, Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “The Cosatu 14th national congress and the CEC meeting that was convened last week did not discuss issues of leadership with regard to the upcoming ANC conference. This means that the federation has not formally endorsed any candidate, including President Cyril Ramaphosa.”
Pamla said Cosatu had decided to remain neutral on issues of leadership and focus on conference policy outcomes and organisational resolutions. “Cosatu, therefore, will not be campaigning for any candidate but will support all those elected by the conference,” he said.
“We wish the ANC well in its conference and we look forward to working with the elected collective to help reconstruct the ANC, and contribute to a robust process of alliance reconfiguration.”
Nelson Mandela University political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: "The left of the tripartite alliance projected Ramaphosa, in the build up to the 2017 national congress, as someone who is worker-friendly. It turns out he is nothing of the sort, he is business-friendly."
"Ramaphosa said it’s not the role of government to regulate laws of the market forces, and that development must be driven by market forces, that’ s a neoliberal line of thinking to say government's role is not to create employment. That never sat well with Cosatu and there was a whole lot of hullaballoo over those remarks," Breakfast said.
There had been unhappiness surrounding Ramphosa's leadership style, he added.
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