SOUTH AFRICA
T ITS LAUNCHING in
A 1985, after four years of long and difficult unity discussions, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was undoubtedly already the most powerful union confederation in the history of South Africa's Black workers. The number of paid-up members at the time of the confederation's second congress in midJuly strongly reconfirms that fact.
In the space of 19 months, there has been impressive growth. From 430,000 paid-up members organized in 33 un-
A milestone congress for
COSATU
THE STAKES and pressures in the strategic debates within the Black unions are mounting alongside the tumultuous growth of the movement. The following article looks at the issues involved in structures, have difficulties in living together. These are inherited from the previous period, but they have sometimes been aggravated by the new debates.
Such conflicts have led to organizational difficulties, as the COSATU executive's 1987 message to the membership regretted: "To let differences lead to a split in a union, as happened in the NUTW [National Union of Textile Workers]; or to hold up the organization of a region, as happened in the Eastern Cape and Witwatersrand regions; or weaken a branch, as happened in Johannesburg, is terrible, ions, paid-up membership has increased to 769,000 workers in 13 unions and industry struc- 13 unions and industry stric. tures, and about a million workers have signed up. [COSATU's objective is to group all its members in each industry in one industrial union.]
In its recent development, some this year's COSATU congress.
### TONY ROUX union for each industry has run into considerable resistance. The fusions have been much slower than the sixmonth time limit at the founding congress provided for. This fact has been publicly recognized by the union leaders. Sydney Mufamadi, assistant general secretary of COSATU, has explained, for example, that the "general unions feel they are being pushed too fast and need more time to discuss practical changes. But the industrial unions feel general unions are dragging their feet and it is the central executive's task to try and strike a balance." 2 Fusions are still to be carried out or completed in transport, wood and paper, and among municipal workers.
In most cases, two things combine as obstacles to unification: One is differences in orientation. The other is that unions already organized on an industrial basis, and those general unions less prepared to dissolve and integrate themselves into the confederation's comrades." 3
The gravest problems have been in commerce and the catering industry. For the first time, a union belonging to COSATU, with 56,000 paid-up members, has seen internal political tensions lead to an open battle Differences emerge publicly