A new political force
THE FOLLOWING article was published in the South African
Financial Mail, December 9, 1985. It gives an idea of how seriously the foundation of COSATU is taken in political circles. We publish it for the purposes of information the analysis given.
'A giant is born' went one of the most enthusiastically acclaimed lines in Cyril Ramaphosa's opening address to the Durban conference at which the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was launched last weekend. No doubt these words, (a0мл), ana) spoken by the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and chairman of the conference's credentials committee,' are appropriate.
The committee convened the meeting and attended to details of representation.
COSATU is now by far the largest worker organisation in South Africa, representing 450,000 paid-up union members and 33 unions. And doubtless overall membership of affiliated unions will continue to grow appreciably.
The public speeches made at the conference show clearly that the organisation sees its main role as a political one. Its political approach will be aggressive and uncompromising.
Conceived more than four years ago, COSATU's gestation period has been long and difficult. It has lost one of the main earlier participants, the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA), which decided it could not reconcile its belief in a Black exclusivist approach to leadership of unions with COSATU's non-racial ideology.
And it was only a few months ago that more than half of the affiliates - mainly small unions aligned with the United Democratic Front (UDF) - decided on participation.
Inevitably, the question of the recently formed, Black Consciousness. (BC) alliance between CUSA and the Azanian Confederation of Trade Unions (AZACTU) was raised. COSATU's leadership was at pains to emphasise that the door would remain open for rapprochement.
only and do not necesarily share But, knowing that it was talking from a position of strength, COSATU made it patently clear that any future alliance would be on its terms.
Hence the split in the emerging trade-union movement between the BC and non-racial schools of thought will remain - mirroring the split in militant Black politics.
The launch was skillfully orchestrated to create an aura of maximum unity. But in the coming months, as COSATU begins to formulate detailed policies and strategy, some of the oid ideological conflicts may re-emerge. And moves toward fulfilling the slogan 'one industry, one union' are likely to be slower than some of the larger industrial unions would hope.
The newly elected leadership of COSATU is a reflection of the prominence of the larger unions - and of youth. The exception is NUM vice-president Elijah Barayi, who was elected president of the new body. He is a seasoned political figure, more than twenty years older than any of the other five executive com-
COSATU
15
ANDRIES
RADITSELA
1954 - 1985
HE LIVED, WORKEL
DIED FOR THE BEeTLE
HIS BLOOD HAS
WATEREO THE TREE OF
OUR STRUGGLE
PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE
LONG
BLAMENHE
In May 1985, 30,000 people attended the funeral of trade-union leader Andries
Raditsela, victim of police repression (DR)
in mind that many COSATU unions are affiliated to the UDF and have found it possible to operate there without any apparent reservations about UDF policies.
The conference failed to complete debate on all the issues before it -a number of resolutions have been referred to the organisation's Central Executive Committee (CEC) for consideration at a later date. But it nevertheless formulated policy on a number of important issues.
COSATU passed a hard-hitting resolution condemning the homeland system as well as those Blacks who participate in it. This was to be expected. KwaZulu's chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi has already interpreted COSATU's attitude as a personal attack. And when asked for clarification, COSATU leaders did not try to hide the fact that the resolution referred to KwaZulu as much as any other homeland.
This is something of a break with mittee members elected at the conference. First vice-president Chris Dlamini is ex-president of the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), which will now dissolve. Dlamini is a clerical employee at Kelloggs in Springs and also president of the Sweet, Food and Allied Workers' Union (SFAWU).
Second vice-president is Makhulu Ledwaba, president of the 50,000strong Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union and a clerk at the Metro Cash and Carry head office. The treasurer, Maxwell Xulu, is the southern Natal chairman of the Metal and Allied Workers' Union, COSATU's third-largest affiliate. There are two full-time paid officials. General Secretary Jay Naidoo was a student activist at the University of Durban-Westville before becoming General Secretary of SFAWU. Assistant General Secretary Sydney Mafumadi, is a well-known UDF activist as well as a top official of the General and Allied Workers' Union.
In considering COSATU's role in the political arena, the question the conference debated was not whether it should take an active role, but how this should be best achieved. The emphasis was on working in close cooperation with 'progressive' political organisations. But there is an important precondition placed on such cooperation: that COSATU should control the direction of political campaigns.
To outsiders this may seem like an unnecessary distinction, particularly given the rather vague terms in which it has been formulated. But if COSATU succeeds in its aim of becoming the dominant force in Black politics, this will have important 16 consequences for the future of militant Black politics as a whole in South Africa.
First, trade-union membership tends to be more organised and disciplined than the community and political organisations of the Black townships.
While campaigns run by the major unions have proved to be no less effective, there has been far less of the anarchic-style politics that have become a feature of the township violence of the last 15 months.
Second COSATU can be expected to develop a clearer and more sophisticated socialist content in its political programme. Speeches this weekend were littered with phrases about the need to restructure society' and that the wealth created by the workers must be owned, controlled and shared by the workers.' And in his speech to a rally of 15,000 supporters, Barayi threatened the nationalisation of the mines and other large industries in a future South Africa.
While such talk is still at the level of rhetoric, the leadership of COSATU and its affiliates have the capacity to refine it into a serious economic programme, which many unionists believe to be lacking in organisations such as the UDF.
Achieving a dominant position in Black opposition politics is a priority for the new organisation. Leaders of the major COSATU unions are painfully aware that during the upheavals which began in September last year the initiative has been taken by the UDF and its supporters. Reversing that trend will be no easy task, particularly in that it will have to be done without alienating a large section of the UDF. And it must be borne the past. The ex-FOSATU affiliates have a powerful presence in Natal and until now, have steered clear of open confrontation with Buthelezi and his Inkatha movement. Thousands of FOSATU members are, in fact, also members of Inkatha. It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of a serious conflict between COSATU and Inkatha or whether they will be able to reach, at least, an uneasy truce. A failure to do so will obviously leave those with allegiances to both organisations facing a serious dilemma.
COSATU also passed a resolution rejecting federalism as a 'fraudulent' scheme designed to maintain real power in white hands and affirmed its vision of a future South Africa operating under a system of 'one person, one vote in a unitary state.' Demands were made for the lifting of the State of Emergency, the withdrawal of security forces from the townships, the release of political prisoners and the unbanning of political organisations.
COSATU came out strongly in favour of intensified international pressure against South Africa , including disinvestment. This appears to be a leftward shift compared to the old FOSATU policy, which argued that while pressure for disinvestment was constructive, actual disinvestment would be disadvantageous to workers directly affected. There is a rider to COSATU's resolution, however: it wants the assets of companies that pull out of South Africa to remain in the country. (It is difficult to see foreign companies selling up and giving the proceeds to the workers.)
The conference called for sexual equality, union education programmes, a national minimun wage, the aboli-
International Viewpoint 24 February 1986
tion of the migrant labour system, and close links with other unions in southern African as a counter to the strength of multinational companies.
The conference also resolved that affiliates should negotiate mergers so that ultimately there wil be single unions in the following major industries: food and drink; textile, clothing and leather; paper, wood and printing; mining and energy; metal and motor; chemical and petroleum; commerce; transport, cleaning and security; local and national government services; and domestic workers. These are sectors in which COSATU affiliates already have a sizeable presence. In addition, COSATU is looking towards establishing unions for construction and agricultural workers. Some progress towards rationalisation has already been made. In the food sector, SFAWU and the Food and Canning Workers' Union have made significant progress towards merging.
They are likely to be joined by the Retail and Allied Workers' Union which has organised dairy employees in the western Cape and the OFS [Orange Free State]. The Transport and General Workers' Union and the General Workers' Union have done the same in the transport sector, as have two small unions representing municipal workers. But difficulties are likely to arise between the large industrial unions and the UDF-aligned general unions. The UDF unions, as well as some of their small industrial allies, have always expressed an aversion to splitting up and being swallowed by the large industrial unions.
This tension was apparent when the UDF unions expressed less than wholehearted support for a resolution setting a six-month deadline for mergers to be completed. The extent of the UDF-aligned unions' commitment to unity with their erstwhile ideological and organisational competitors will be measured in terms of their adherence to the deadline.
There are some controversial issues still to be discussed by the CEC. One of the most difficult to resolve will be over relationships with international trade-union organisations. The South African Allied Workers' Union has proposed that COSATU disassociate itself and refuse financial assistance from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which it accuses of 'subversion' and limperialism'. Although none have official links, many COSATU affiliates have maintained a close relationship with ICFTU and have benefited financially from that relationship.
Clearly the South African political arena now has a new, major contender for power. Will it get it?
International Viewpoint 24 February 1986