Volume 6 No 5 - October / November 1997
On Friday 19 September, we concluded a successful sixth national congress. This congress was characterised by open and frank debate, maturity in handling differences of opinion, a focus on organisational and international issues which for many years were never properly dealt with and a recommitment to the Alliance-led national democratic revolution and socialism.
Those who expected to see blood spilt between COSATU and the ANC were disappointed with the outcome, particularly on GEAR, the Alliance and the decision to back the ANC in the next elections. The challenge we face now is how we will translate these resolutions into reality. This will require that we put together all the resolutions in a booklet, communicate them to our members and the public and use shopstewards and other leaders as an educational resource to ensure their successful implementation.
In April next year, we plan to have a recruitment drive to swell the ranks of COSATU and its affiliates. All our shopstewards will be expected to participate effectively in the campaign. Locals and affiliates are expected to identify areas for recruitment where we are weak despite our potential to grow.
One of the challenges facing those in elected positions at all levels is the decision that representation at local, provincial and national level executives should be by elected leaders. This means that they can no longer duck their responsibilities. The same applies to the establishment of the Central Committee as a decision-making structure. Leadership can no longer stay away from decision-making structures dominated by workers in the hope that decisions will be mere recommendations.
Those who were hoping that we would abandon our commitment to socialism were mistaken as the congress decided that this is our future that we will begin to build now. Those who expected workers to shy away from taking leadership positions in the ANC and the SACP have been equally surprised. Workers are committed to ensuring that the ANC becomes working class biased as we engage in continued struggles for the transformation of our country.
The past few weeks have seen a renewed attack against the Alliance by business and the commercial press. What are our sins? You guessed right — it is our agreement on major areas of the Bill. They were hoping for an Alliance showdown. When this failed to materialise, they accused us of sidelining NEDLAC. These are the same people who call for NEDLAC to be disbanded.
The agreement, which is reported on elsewhere in this edition, was not a technical agreement brought about by negotiations alone. It is a result of workers’ struggle for better working conditions, the political will by the Alliance to resolve our differences as well as a realisation by the Alliance leadership that we should not squander our weapon for transformation
From 11 to 13 November 1997, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be holding hearings on the relationship between capital and apartheid and the role they played by omission or commission. COSATU will present evidence that will show that, while we were persecuted under apartheid, business was part of the apartheid machinery, supported it, benefitted from it and helped create a climate conducive to worker oppression and exploitation.
Many of us remember how business used migrant labour as a source of cheap labour. Workers wishing to join trade unions were prevented from doing so by both employers and the apartheid regime. Those who were able to do so either lost their jobs or landed in jail. Most workers were dismissed for engaging in strike action. Even after the 1979 ‘labour reforms’, business refused to accept change. Indeed, when they realised that COSATU unions and workers generally were using the opened space effectively, they resorted to liaison committees. When this failed, they requested their government to pass the famous Labour Relations Amendment Act of 1988. These people today claim to have destroyed apartheid.
We are not going to these hearings as victims of apartheid, but as people who have brought about the current changes in spite of business and apartheid. We are going to show that these people have not only worked with apartheid, but that they still long for its return, as can be seen from their attitude to the current labour reforms. It is for this reason that we will ask the TRC to ensure that these philistines be required to build a museum for workers’ struggle, put more money into training, close the apartheid wage gap, end forced single sex hostels etc. Failure to agree to the above will be proof enough that capital has yet to embrace the new South Africa.
- Mbhazima Shilowa
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What are your views on how to implement the COSATU congress resolutions, socialism, the economy and other national issues?
Write to The Shopsteward about issues being debated in your union and elsewhere. Send your letters to: The Shopsteward P O Box 1019 Johannesburg 2000
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Reading the extract of the paper written by Peter Mokaba in the Mail & Guardian of 3-9 October 1997, reminded me of a conversation I had with a comrade at the ANC Western Cape provincial conference not so long ago.
The comrade I was speaking to happened to be from the same political generation as Peter Mokaba and myself. I quote him as follows, "the ANC is not the same as in the pre-1994 period".
Today I see the main thrust of the comrade’s concern. During my days as the secretary of the ANC Youth League, we used to engage each other in a very robust manner on the strategic objectives of the liberation movement. On one such occasion we invited Peter Mokaba to speak on the late Cde Joe Slovo’s document "Has socialism failed". Mokaba was so impressive in representing the position of the left that he even made a fundamental critique by saying that Cde Joe made a blunder by talking about "democratic socialism". He substantiated this by saying that socialism, by nature, is democratic as a way of life. He also said that Cde Slovo is like a sangoma who fails to apply scientific analysis to the problems and crisis facing the Soviet Union.
I wonder whether Mokaba remembers the founding principles of the Alliance. Let me remind him and the nation at large, and in particular his new found ally Mr Martinus Van Schalkwyk: The Alliance has a historical mission to achieve the aims and objectives of the National Democratic Revolution. The tasks of the NDR are interrelated challenges that the struggling people of the country have to confront.
In Europe it was partly the initiative of an enterprising bourgeoisie attempting to consolidate linguistic and cultural bonds of various principalities, to bring constitutional and legal convergence for the purpose of commercial intercourse, that led to the idea of a nation. It was however different, if related, concerns that informed nation formation in South Africa based on the Freedom Charter and gave rise to the Alliance. The Freedom Charter speaks about socio-political and economic liberation of the people, which is different from what Mokaba understands to be capitalist-driven transformation.
Revolutions, since the French Revolution, have also been about democracy. Democratisation was introduced for the first time when people started to participate and involve themselves around issues that affected them directly.
The main form of this democracy has been reduced to occasional involvement in politics [elections] and to representative democracy. It is however important for Mokaba to note, with particular reference to the experiences of our own struggle, that the concept means participation and control of other aspects of human life such as work, the economy and the community, which for the "Free Marketeers" means the survival of only those who "have".
I would like to say to Mokaba and his allies that the question of the Alliance is not a choice but a commitment to better the lives of unemployed workers, employed workers, women, the youth and the rural poor. Policies that are developed today by the ANC-led government are specifically about that. It is this same mandate that he is questioning in his document to the ANC conference. It is also the vigilance of the SACP, an equal partner of the Alliance, that is making sure that these policies and programmes create the space for a better life for all. At the same time I wonder what qualitative inputs he is making in his ministry in addressing the above?
In the context of Mokaba’s paper and as deputy minister of a sector of the economy that the underprivileged and oppressed were sidelined from for decades, it raises serious concerns that our people will be affirmed to interface and become active parties in the development of coastal management and marine resources.
We understand that the battle for the soul of the ANC has been there since its inception. With all forces within the ANC there is common ground and an understanding that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. That there shall be houses, security and comfort for all and that the people shall share in the wealth of the country. This is a clear fundamental break from the "free market and democratic capitalism" notion that Mokaba refers to.
As a member of the ANC/SACP and head of the FAWU education department, I would like to remind Mokaba that super profits cannot be democratic under individual or minority ownership — social ownership is the future for a better life for all.
With respect for change and transparency I wish to raise a final question — did Mokaba fool us all during the height of our struggle years?
— Phillip Nyongwana, Head of the FAWU Education Department, Cape Town
As a union, we are asking, what are the benefits for workers if SARS is privatised? What does it mean to the ANC as an organisation? And how will the community benefit from this privatisation?
Are the ministers carrying out the policy of the organisation or their own policy? SARS is still under the control of the Broederbond and, as such, they are being offered autonomous status. Previously, under the apartheid regime, they did not talk about privatisation. Why at this stage?
We as NEHAWU members under SARS say no to privatisation. The wealth of this country is still in the hands of minority and the standards of living also still favour the minority. We call on comrades at workplaces all over the country to object to privatisation.
SARS is the engine of the government, and if we remove the engine from the car, we will not be able to use it. It is the same for the government — if we remove SARS from the government, it will be a government without financial resources.
— Nevondo, NEHAWU Branch Media Co-ordinator
It is with shock and a feeling of helplessness that I read in the COSATU Web page of the untimely and tragic death of sister Dorothy Mokgalo, a great trade union leader and fighter for the oppressed. I had the pleasure of meeting and travelling with her during the congress of LO Denmark in 1996. We even discussed the possibility of her attending a leadership seminar at the Afro-Asian Institute at the Beit Berl Labour campus near Tel Aviv. Her extremely hectic and busy work schedule prevented her participation this year but she had an open invitation, which unfortunately will not come to fruition now.
She was so lively and cheerful, a ray of sunlight in the grey and dismal Copenhagen weather at the time. We discussed the state of the universe, dwelled upon workers’ issues and the question of equal rights, swapped photographs and "boasted" about our children.
We tentatively planned in our heads a future seminar-workshop on political consciousness raising for women activists between South African, Israeli, Palestinian and Scandinavian women. We agreed that it was only with direct participation of more women in the decision making process and leadership positions that peace would come to this troubled world. The mothers and wives lend a moderating influence.
How sad that this wonderful, buoyant lady has been taken away from all of those who knew her from all walks of life.
Please extend my belated but heartfelt condolences to Dorothy’s immediate family and the COSATU brotherhood. She will always be remembered.
— Dov Randel, Israeli trade-unionist
I have been employed by the Department of Correctional Services for a period of 23 years now, but if I compare my basic monthly salary with that of my white counterparts who have served for the same amount of time and less, I find a huge gap between them. This means our white counterparts are still on top of the salary scales, as they were previously pushed up the scales through promotions without reason.
I want to urge The Shopsteward to investigate the matter and come up with something that will cure the imbalances of the past. I would suggest that the salary scales be determined by length of service to those with poor school qualifications.
— Cde Ngwako Mokgokoni, POPCRU, Gauteng
The campaign to close the apartheid wage gap is an important COSATU campaign. We suggest you take it forward in your union, POPCRU.
The country’s budget should not be left to one person — Trevor Manuel — or his consultants and advisors. The labour movement, business, NGOs etc. must take part in drawing up the new budget because all of us are paying tax. This arrangement must happen nationally, regionally and locally.
The Alliance must continue but we made a mistake as members of the Alliance in not deciding, after we took power, what will be our role as COSATU, SANCO, and the ANC, including in government. We did not come up with clear guidelines. Nationally and regionally the Alliance is functioning better, even though we have some problems with Gear. Sometimes we must disagree, because we are independent.
Locally is where the most problems are. One of the problems is Masakhane. As COSATU we support this campaign but people on the ground are not taking it seriously because our councillors are taking decisions for them. There is no fair political activity amongst the members of the Alliance on the ground. Constructive criticism is not allowed. If you criticise what is wrong, they will say you are selling out. National and regional leaders of the Alliance together must go down to the locals, e.g. in Thembisa, Tsakane and KwaThema, and find out about the problems there so that the Alliance can grow stronger and stronger.
Our local government leaders are destroying the name of our government that we stood for and fought for. Now as COSATU we will be able to convince the people on the ground to vote again for the movement while others have their own self interest.
The people of South Africa cannot abandon mass action. Mass action is the only power that we have. The government wants to privatise electricity, water and public transport like trains. But these are some of the basic needs for disadvantaged people. Mass action is the answer to stop privatisation. The government has been elected mostly by those who are poor and they must listen to those poor people. If they can’t, mass action must take its course.
In our companies we are still suffering because apartheid is still there. People, mostly black, who are members of the union, are losing jobs because the employers are anti-union. The union is teaching the workers their rights. There is no democracy in our companies. We must not make that mistake and disband our unions. Long live COSATU!
We as workers must fight to have full control of our Provident Fund. That money can be used directly to build houses for workers. It must be monitored to ensure that it is doing the right job for workers. The workers are sick and tired of borrowing money from banks. The government must support those who are unemployed with a programme of low-cost housing.
Crime is a problem in this country. It is caused by unemployment. The government agreement on trade and tariff reductions is one thing that causes unemployment.
The youth of this country under the banner of SAYCO and COSAS from 1984 onwards tried by all means to stop crime and we were successful. The government must make means to employ those youth into the police force as they are known by their community.
As a shopsteward and community leader I know in my area that if the police can employ so and so, the crime can go down. There are people who are trusted by their community and hated by criminals. In every area when police are to be employed, the local leaders must be consulted. They must stop taking decisions alone in Pretoria.
— Jabulani Hlatshwayo, NUMSA shopsteward, Springs local, member of SANCO, ANC, ANCYL.
Today, the national liberation movement has become one of the chief motive forces of the world revolutionary process. Hundreds of our people who had been enslaved and suppressed by the colonial regime are making their own history today.
Importantly, we must first understand that all revolutionary forces must be vigilant to make sure that progressive revolutionary reforms are carried through. As we know from history, the defence of a revolution from counter-revolutionary forces is an objective need. No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself.
Lenin said "From the democratic revolution we shall at once, and precisely in accordance with the measure of our strength — the strength of the class-conscious and organised proletariat — begin to pass to the socialist revolution. We stand for an uninterrupted revolution. We shall not stop half way."
Let us for a while focus on the socialist countries. These socialist countries have fought tirelessly for socialism. Each of these countries contributed something of its own for some form of democracy. But they fought differently, for some variety of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the varying rate of socialist transformation in the different aspects of social life. No single socialist country has ever copied mechanically the forms, methods and ways of socialist revolution in other countries. All the socialist countries accomplished their revolution in their own ways, dictated by the alignment of class forces in that country, by the national tradition and the international situation.
Can we start debating socialism in SA? Yes, because in SA we have preferred the peaceful way of accomplishing our revolution. The chief tasks of a socialist revolution are creative, because they require peace and preservation of the productive forces of society. It is important to note that the concept of a revolutionary situation is extremely important for the strategy and tactics of liberation struggle. History has shown us that there is no use trying to overthrow the power of the ruling class when there is no revolutionary situation.
After the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, socialism was established as a reality within a relatively brief span of time and grew stronger to become the main revolutionary force. Socialism has proven beyond doubt its basic advantages over capitalism. Among the achievements of socialism are the elimination of all forms of social oppression and national inequalities, full employment, free education and medical care, state social insurance, cheap housing, crisis-free economic advancement and genuine democracy which gives rise to unprecedented large-scale activity of the popular masses in every area of public life, and many other things which the working class never knew under capitalism. Socialism today is the bastion of all progressives, of peace fighters, of the democratic and national liberation forces. It is the vanguard and the strongest support of the world revolutionary process.
We are now in a democratic situation. So we need to draft our own way of moving towards socialism. Karl Marx and Lenin taught us how to make it. So let’s start today!
— Calistro Bhila, Malelane
Up in the morning at five, so that my family may survive
Slogging and slaving away, for the bosses the whole damn day
When the day is through, it’s to the ghetto with me and you
This is a worker’s prayer, this is a worker’s prayer.
For whom do we slave all day, for the bosses who refuse to pay
Living a kingly life, while all around there is suffering and strife
The only way to overcome, is to unite and to fight the scum
This is a worker’s prayer, this is a worker’s prayer.
And when a worker gets too old, he is pushed out into the cold
For he no longer can hold his own, and every dog has to fight his bone
This cannot go on, and on, and on
Unite! workers! unite!
Fight till the system is gone
We must create a new world, where we must help and we must build
By working and learning to make a world that’s free and without hate
So come and show that we are strong
Unite! Workers! Unite!
This is a worker’s prayer, this is a worker's prayer.
- The Worker, CWU, Western Cape
The Tripartite Alliance has made a significant breakthrough in reaching agreement on the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill.
As The Shopsteward went to press, COSATU was preparing to make its submission on the Bill to the parliamentary standing committee on 28 October.
COSATU announced that an all-night meeting on 21 October, attended by high-level leaders of the ANC, SACP and COSATU, had made substantial progress in closing the gaps on the Bill’s core issues.
In the light of this progress, the federation suspended the general strike planned for 27 and 28 October, pending the finalisation of the Bill in parliament.
A COSATU Special Executive Committee on 24 October broadly accepted the positions emerging from the Alliance meeting as the basis for an agreement, with some amendments.
The common Alliance approach to the Bill is seen as a significant political advance in that it represents a strengthening of the Alliance and a growing Alliance unity that COSATU has been striving for.
The federation has been calling for the Alliance to drive the policy-making process and transformation more broadly — a sentiment endorsed at the Alliance Summit at the end of August. The near agreement on the Bill shows that this now seems to be paying off.
The Alliance has also made a point of calling for leaders of its component organisations to see themselves as leaders of the Alliance as a whole. The closing of ranks around the Bill is a clear indication that this is now beginning to take place.
The fact that top Alliance leaders participated in the meeting is also seen as evidence that the Alliance partners are taking the process seriously. The ANC delegation included deputy president Thabo Mbeki, acting general secretary Cheryl Carolus, labour minister Tito Mboweni, transport minister Mac Maharaj and trade and industry minister Alec Erwin. The SACP delegation included acting national chairperson Blade Nzimande, national treasurer Kay Moonsamy, parliamentary labour committee head Godfrey Oliphant and MPs Philip Dexter and Yunus Carrim.
COSATU delegates to the meeting were president John Gomomo, deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, vice president Connie September, treasurer Ronald Mofokeng, CWIU’s Muzi Buthelezi, NUMSA's Peter Dantjie and COSATU negotiations head Khumbula Ndaba.
The 24 October Exco broadly endorsed the Alliance agreement but pointed to some areas that need further discussion in the Alliance or refinement. However, the Exco was keen for the Bill to go through parliament in this session.
Following the Alliance meeting, Vavi and Mboweni were mandated to continue to refine agreements on the Bill. These would be introduced to the labour standing committee as amendments for consideration.
Once passed, the Act is expected to come into operation in May or June next year. This means that agreements reached on additional areas not resolved before the Bill is passed this year could be passed as amendments before the Act is implemented.
COSATU said its Central Executive Committee meeting from 4-6 November would further assess the extent to which the federation’s concerns had been accommodated and take a final decision on a general strike and mass mobilisation.
At the time of going to press, the following agreements had been reached on core areas:
It was agreed that weekly working hours be reduced to 45 hours but that a schedule to the Act would record procedures to achieve a 40-hour week. This will include reports to NEDLAC and parliament two years after the Bill has been enacted and every two years thereafter.
These reports will include a consolidated schedule of working hours in different sectors and recommendations on how to achieve the goal of a 40-hour week.
Where workers are already working less than 45 hours a week, it was agreed that the Bill would protect existing collective agreements, particularly those that are more favourable.
It was also agreed that the 45-hour maximum weekly hours be included in the list of core rights that cannot be varied downwards.
There is agreement that the overtime rate be set at time and a half (11/2) , as captured in the Bill.
COSATU supports the definition of a child in the Bill (below 18 years), but is opposed to the Bill’s provision that the minimum employment age be set at 15 years. COSATU wants it to be 16 years. While disagreement on this was recorded, it was agreed that this should not prevent the Bill’s passage through parliament.
It has been agreed that the Bill should provide for four months paid maternity leave and that women who go on maternity leave should enjoy job security. COSATU will continue to push for the Bill to provide for two months optional maternity leave in addition to the four months paid maternity leave.
It was agreed that the Bill should establish a basic floor of rights for all workers and that certain rights would be classified as core rights that cannot be varied downwards. Core rights include:
duty to arrange working time with due regard to
health, safety and family responsibility;
night work health and safety provisions;
two weeks annual leave;
sick leave, except to the extent provided by the
Act;
maternity leave;
forced and child labour;
45-hour working week.
In addition, it was agreed that no variation be allowed unless workers’ terms and conditions as a whole are as favourable as those provided for in the Bill.
Individual agreements can only vary meal intervals to 30 minutes; working an extra 15 minutes at the end of the day; getting extra time off instead of pay for working overtime or on a Sunday; taking a rest day on a day other than Sunday; getting a longer sick leave at less than full pay but not less than 75% pay; getting payment for annual leave on a day other than beginning of leave.
Variation by collective agreement at workplace or company can only negotiate changes to the Bill on any issues covered above under individual agreements; averaging of working time and changing the number of days and circumstances of family responsibility leave. While the Bill says notice periods can also be varied by collective agreement, COSATU wants this excluded.
Variation by Bargaining Councils will be permitted to the extent provided for in the Act, i.e. the issues outlined under individual and collective agreements.
NEDLAC negotiations on the Skills Development Bill have so far been relatively smooth, according to labour negotiators. There is much common ground between government and labour, but key differences have emerged with business.
In March this year, the government released a Green Paper, Skills Development Strategy for Economic and Employment Growth in South Africa. COSATU's March Executive Committee welcomed the Green Paper as a progressive document, but called for changes in certain areas.
The Bill was released in September and NEDLAC negotiations began on 3 October. The Bill’s first reading in parliament was initially planned to take place before the end of this year. It now seems likely that it will be delayed until the beginning of 1998. However, negotiators are still aiming to reach agreement in NEDLAC this year.
The need to boost investment in skills development as a cornerstone of economic growth and development has long been a key labour demand. The legacy of apartheid and a failure by business to invest in training has left the country with critical skills shortages. The Bill is aimed at redressing this legacy.
COSATU's key demands in the negotiations have been:
Labour has argued for an integrated education and training system which
allows for the progression and portability of workers. Labour has welcomed the
Bill’s emphasis on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), which it says
is central in introducing a system of national standards and qualifications
and will facilitate the recognition of prior learning (RPL). RPL recognises
knowledge and skills individuals have acquired through work and life
experiences, as well as through informal and formal training. Through the
development of national standards, workers will be able to progress up a
particular learning pathway and receive recognition across the system for
their skills.
Labour says the Bill makes a vital contribution in recognising the need for programmes to enable learners to access the NQF. However, it argues that it is critical that both the unemployed and workers have access to learnerships.
Labour welcomes the Bill’s provision to set up a Research and Strategy Planning Unit (RSPU) and Employment Services. However, it says the Bill needs to ensure that young people who are future work seekers, workers facing retrenchment and the unemployed have access to the relevant research and information on labour market trends and skills shortages. This would help ensure appropriate placement of work seekers and facilitate appropriate training.
Labour supports the Bill’s provision that Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (Seta), not ETBs, seek accreditation with the SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and that Seta’s perform the quality assurance function. Where ETBs are education and training providers, they should not also have a quality assurance function — ETBs cannot be "players and referees" at the same time.
Labour has endorsed government’s proposal for the demarcation of 20 sectors as a basis for the establishment of Seta’s.
Labour endorses the Bill’s provisions for a National Skills Authority as a central body to which Seta’s and ETBs account and which allows for tighter coordination, monitoring and evaluation of training in the country.
Labour points out that financing of training in South Africa is way below that in OECD countries of between 4 and 7% of payroll. Labour has proposed a minimum levy of 2% of pay roll, with a 4% levy phased in over a three-year period. However, this should not undermine existing agreements to allocate more than this.
Labour supports the Bill’s provision that 20% of training levies collected should be used for target groups disadvantaged by current industrial training arrangements, including youth, students, rural women and people with disabilities. The other 80% will be distributed to the Seta’s.
COSATU will argue in its submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that business was a willing accomplice in the apartheid system and helped create a climate conducive to the brutal repression the trade union movement suffered under apartheid.
Business propped up apartheid by demonising democratic trade unions, denying workers’ basic rights and refusing to adhere to basic health and safety standards, COSATU is expected to tell the TRC in its submission from 11-13 November.
Apartheid was not just a political system of racial oppression but an economic system which was profitable for business, says COSATU.
Employers bear responsibility for the death of hundreds of workers and the maiming of countless others due to hazardous working conditions. Not least of these was the 1986 Kinross disaster which claimed the lives of 177 mine workers. In the face of the tragedy, the apartheid government and mine management collaborated in preventing the NUM from seeing to it that justice was done.
Bosses refused to allow the NUM to visit the scene of the accident. An NUM rally to mourn the loss of their comrades was disrupted by riot police. Mine management sought to prevent the union from representing workers’ interests and the union was not allowed to cross examine witnesses at the inquiry into the accident.
When details of workers killed in accidents were released, mine bosses gave the names of white miners but, even in death, black workers remained nameless, described only as "Shangaans, Xhosas, Sothos".
The mine bosses’ role in entrenching oppression and exploitation since the early days of apartheid is relatively well-known. But business collaboration with apartheid extended to all key sectors of the economy. Today business presents itself as having always opposed apartheid, but the evidence points to the opposite.
COSATU's TRC submission is expected to name at least 60 individuals and companies which violated basic trade union and human rights, including Nampak, which was involved in spying on trade union activities.
Police executive Meyer Kahn, presented as an enlightened businessman in the media, is also expected to be mentioned, particularly for his role in the P W Botha government’s Stratcom, which plotted how to perpetuate apartheid and destroy the mass resistance movement which helped bring about apartheid’s downfall.
There were no laws that employers should fire workers engaged in trade union activities or when workers took to the streets in political strikes. But thousands of workers were dismissed for engaging in legitimate strike action, unionists were detained at the behest of employers and many were charged under trespass and other apartheid laws in an attempt to smash trade unions. J
The Friends of Cuba Society (Focus) will be hosting the second Alex la Guma Solidarity Brigade to Cuba at the end of the year. The brigade is open to all South Africans who would like to get a taste of Cuban life, find out more about the Cuban struggle and participate in solidarity actions.
In December last year, 40 South Africans formed the first brigade to Cuba. The group included trade unionists, government officials, students, journalists and NGO workers.
The brigade members (brigadistas) met the Cuban trade union federation and affiliates, teachers and student organisations, the Cuban Communist Party, the Young Communist League and various cultural and sports organisations.
Cuban boasts outstanding achievements in health, education and meeting social needs and the brigade was a tremendous learning experience for South Africans grappling with social transformation.
An key component of the brigade is to offer solidarity through manual labour. Brigadistas work in the fields and in construction in recognition of the centrality of labour and voluntary work in the Cuban revolution. Another significant feature of Cuban life is music, dancing and Cuban rum! The brigadistas returned home experts in salsa (Cuban dance).
The programme includes educational events, visits to factories, mass organisations and hospitals, discussions on current political issues as well as sightseeing, entertainment and visits to the beach. This year’s programme will also include a visit to the burial place of Ernesto Che Guevara, whose remains were finally laid to rest in Cuba in October this year on the 30th Anniversary of his death.
One of the brigadistas summed up Cuba in three words: salsa, sun and socialism!
Dates: 15 December 1997 to 4 January 1998.
Cost: R 8 000,00. This includes airfare, food, accommodation, insurance and internal transport but excludes extra spending money.
Closing date for applications and payment: 30 November 1996.
To apply and for more information, contact:
Noel Stott (Focus Gauteng)
(011) 403-4204
Rosemary Janches (Focus Gauteng) (011) 355-3539
Father Michael Lapsley (Focus W Cape) (021) 696-4866
Brian Redelinghuys (021) 462-2417.
Buoyed by greater openness within the Alliance on macro-economic policy, COSATU will argue at the ANC’s policy conference on 1 and 2 November that the Alliance commit itself to transform the budget into an effective tool for wealth redistribution, growth and development.
COSATU has identified budget reform as a priority since the government’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which will set government’s expenditure programme for the next three years, is earmarked for cabinet approval in December this year.
A COSATU paper, Sharpening budget reform for the effective delivery of the RDP, to be presented at the conference, argues that the country’s Budget is the most potent tool for RDP delivery and that the Alliance therefore needs a strategic approach to budget reform. Two key aspects should guide this approach, says COSATU:
"The budget can be used effectively as a ‘spear’ of the RDP, and the Constitution as an effective ‘shield’," COSATU says in the paper.
It argues that the parameters of budget reform and the MTEF need to allow greater flexibility in government deficit and revenue levels. This would ensure greater certainty in expenditure programmes.
"Such an approach will sharpen the budget as a tool, or ‘spear’, of the RDP by seeing to it that it is not blunted by the arbitrary parameters set by Gear," COSATU says.
The federation argues that discussion on budget parameters should not be restricted to the pro’s and cons of Gear as this would prevent a full debate within the Alliance on economic policy imperatives.
An alternative macro-economic framework should be developed which is appropriate to the sustained implementation of the RDP.
The paper adds that it would not be useful for COSATU develop an alternative to Gear "at this juncture", despite numerous calls from within the Alliance for it to do so.
"Rather than developing an alternative model to Gear, we wish to participate in Alliance discussions on what policies and principles should guide macro-economic policy."
While COSATU's paper focuses on Gear’s effect on budget reform, it points out that Gear also impacts heavily on other areas. It points out that processes flowing from the Alliance Summit on 31 August and 1 September will aim to develop a common Alliance approach to other contested areas such as trade and industry policy, infrastructural delivery and improved social security.
The introduction of the MTEF as part of the budget reform process is already underway. This will outline government’s expenditure programme in three-year cycles, allowing for more certainty over an extended time frame to facilitate better development planning.
COSATU says it supports the MTEF in principle as better planning should bring to an end massive rollovers of expenditure and allow for reprioritisation in line with RDP objectives.
However, it raises concern over the "inappropriate and arbitrary" parameters imposed on the budget by Gear.
"The MTEF, the very tool designed to help with the reprioritisation of the budget towards RDP priorities and to assist in medium term expenditure planning, is rendered problematic by Gear’s commitment to rigid targets limiting budget deficits and revenue collection," the paper says.
Gear requires deficits to be brought down to 4% and later 3% of GDP while revenue collection is required to be 25% of GDP. This means that expenditure is squeezed between deficit reduction targets and low tax ceilings, into increasingly narrow parameters.
Expenditure levels will therefore be dictated by Gear parameters and will depend on GDP growth rates.
"As the GDP level is unpredictable and, over the last two years has performed below prediction, government expenditure levels will be unpredictable and will slow with any slowing in GDP level. This contradicts the main objective of the MTEF, which is predictability in expenditure planning."
Unpredictable spending is inappropriate to South Africa’s development demands, which require well-targeted and well-planned state expenditure to kick-start economic expansion.
Instead of focussing on improving the quality and maximising the social returns of expenditure, the focus will be on arbitrary deficit reduction targets and revenue ceilings.
"Delivery of basic needs and services to the people will either be postponed, or not be met at all, since departments may be forced to extend delivery periods or cut programmes to meet deficit targets. Development thus becomes captive to the subsidiary objective of reducing the budget deficit and meeting revenue targets."
COSATU says Gear’s fixing of government revenue at 25% of GDP "ties the hands of government" and weakens its potential to deliver.
This is an unnecessary compromise to business since the tax burden has increasingly shifted from business to individuals. Between 1976 and 1995, corporate tax contributions to total revenue has dropped from 35% to 12,5%, whereas personal tax contributions have increased from 24,7% to 40,9%.
COSATU also argues that the 25% of GDP revenue ceiling is extremely low, as many countries have a 40% ratio, with a ratio of more than 50% during developmental periods.
The paper says that, instead of setting rigid, arbitrary parameters as in Gear, deficit and revenue targets should be set within a "flexible band". This would allow for greater certainty of expenditure levels and facilitate medium-term planning.
An expenditure programme should be laid out in the MTEF and pursued despite fluctuations in the GDP level. GDP fluctuations should be absorbed by variations in deficit and revenue levels within the identified bands.
COSATU says there are strong economic arguments for the implementation of such an expenditure-driven approach to budget reform.
"There are many examples of countries around the world that used well-planned public expenditure programmes to kick-start development in their economies. Judicious expenditure can play an important role, not only in meeting basic needs, but also in financing industrialisation strategies, boosting Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), financing job-creating public works programmes and financing productivity-enhancing social expenditure and infrastructural expenditure."
"Well-planned public expenditure can initiate a virtuous circle of increased social investment, which ‘crowds-in’ increased private investment, which in turn expands the tax base allowing government to recoup previous expenditure through increased collection of taxes."
COSATU warns that the opposite route of cutting back public expenditure would lock South Africa onto a path of low-growth and under-development, and would severely undermine the developmental potential of the state.
This new approach would be more appropriate to the RDP’s expenditure priorities and its vision of the active role of the state in kick-starting economic growth and development. It would also be sustainable, as deficit and revenue levels would not be able to fluctuate outside of certain strictly enforced bands.
COSATU argues for thorough-going debate and discussion within the Alliance on how to achieve the vision of a People’s Budget.
"By now we are all aware that there is no way that any of these important matters can be declared ‘non-negotiable’ and, as agreed at the Alliance Summit, they 'cannot be cast in stone’.
"There is also a growing realisation that those disagreements that do exist are not disagreements between our organisational formations — the ANC, COSATU and the SACP — as much as they are disagreements which exist within and amongst all of us as an Alliance."
The Constitution outlines the process through which the budget becomes law and requires legislation empowering parliament to amend money bills, including the budget.
COSATU wants the highly secretive and centralised budget process inherited from apartheid to be replaced by a more open and participative process. However, the question is how far budget reform legislation should go.
"Part of the historic commitment of the liberation alliance that ‘The people shall govern’ means that parliament — as the people’s elected representatives — should be empowered to play an effective oversight role with regards to the Budget," says COSATU in its paper to the ANC policy conference.
The paper says that legislation empowering parliament to amend money bills such as the Budget should grant significant powers to parliament, if not to alter total expenditure levels, then to increase and decrease individual department’s budget votes, to introduce new expenditure items into the budget and to effect changes to Bills imposing taxes, levies and duties.
"It is an important matter of principle for the liberation alliance that the Constitution’s commitment to an effective oversight role for parliament in budgetary matters should be properly implemented."
COSATU points out that the RDP offers clear direction on the matter: "The democratic government must end unnecessary secrecy in the formulation of the budget. To that end, it must change the relevant regulations. We must establish a parliamentary budget office with sufficient resources and personnel to ensure efficient democratic oversight of the budget."
The paper calls for broader participation in the process of drawing up the budget through discussion on the proposed budget, the MTEF and its underlying economic assumptions, in parliament and at NEDLAC, some months prior to the presentation of the final budget in parliament.
"There is no contradiction between such an increased consultative process and parliament having ultimate oversight over the entire process," COSATU says.
COSATU's paper on budget reform repeats the federation’s oft-stated call for restructuring of government debt through the introduction of a pay-as-you-go method of funding public sector pension funds. It says this would dramatically enhance the sustainability of the new framework by reducing government debt thereby easing deficit problems. This would in turn make more funding available for reprioritised RDP expenditure.
The ANC policy conference is a key event as it will hone ANC policy in the build-up to the organisation’s national conference from 16-19 December.
In preparation for the policy conference, the ANC policy department hosted a workshop on 27 and 28 September, which COSATU attended.
Discussion on "governance and the state" at the workshop looked at how to realise the Freedom Charter’s objective that "the people shall govern", including ensuring participatory mechanisms in the development of ANC and government policy.
Workshop commissions on economic transformation, social services, infrastructure, peace and stability, governance and international affairs heard inputs from the relevant ANC ministers and senior officials in government departments.
Following the workshop, a series of papers are being drawn up for presentation at the policy conference.
SADTU's intervention in a proposed amendment to the South African Schools Act has led to a compromise which partially allays fears over the creation of a two-tier public schooling system — one for the privileged and one for disadvantaged communities.
The intervention came in the form of a submission to the parliamentary education portfolio committee by SADTU General Secretary Thulas Nxesi on 9 October. He was responding to a Schools Act amendment to allow school governing bodies powers to employ extra teachers privately, over and above government staff.
SADTU told the portfolio committee it was not opposed to the employment of extra teachers in the public school system. On the contrary, SADTU had long campaigned for improved teacher-pupil ratios in public schools. However, the union was against government reneging on its responsibility to employ sufficient teachers in all public schools.
Nxesi said there was a danger that the amendment could create a two-tier system of public schooling. The majority of schools — in townships, informal settlements and rural areas — did not have the capacity or the funds to employ extra teachers. The amendment would therefore perpetuate past inequalities. Schools in privileged areas would remain privileged and schools in poor areas would remain impoverished.
The union said the amendment also raised problems around the representation of "extra" teachers in the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) and whether they would be included in collective bargaining agreements.
The union felt that teachers’ gains could be rolled back and that downward variation of labour standards could be introduced. Schools could exploit teachers on private contracts, employing them at lower pay rates than state educators.
Schools with wealthy governing bodies could employ teachers at higher pay. They would therefore attract better teachers, particularly those with scarce skills such as maths and science, away from the rest of the public school system. Both these situations were unacceptable, SADTU argued.
Despite its initial opposition, SADTU realised that an outright rejection of the amendment would not bring government any closer to a progressive solution. After deliberations, the union decided to instead put forward a compromise in the form of conditions to the original amendment. The following conditions were agreed to:
The Schools Act amendments will also make staffing policy subject to ELRC negotiations and give the minister more powers to effect transformation.
SADTU said the compromise had partially allayed its fears of the creation of a two-tier public schooling system. However, the union will continue to monitor education transformation carefully.
"Government should not be allowed to abdicate its responsibility to provide basic minimum resources for education as this would undermine the whole concept of compulsory education," said Nxesi.
SAMWU will hold its 5th National Congress in Johannesburg from 29-31 October. The congress coincides with the union’s tenth anniversary celebrations, including a rally on November 1.
SAMWU was launched in Athlone, Cape Town on 24 and 25 October 1987. The union brought together five unions from divergent backgrounds and the launching congress was characterised by sharp debates on issues like organising strategies, international policy and building unity to advance municipal workers’ living wage struggles.
At the time of its launch, SAMWU had just 14 000 members. Today the union represents over 120 000 municipal workers in over 300 local authorities throughout the country.
As SAMWU approaches its next decade, a number of new challenges loom large on the horizon. Among the resolutions to be discussed at the congress are:
"As a union which operates in a sector which is feeling the effects of Gear, the congress has a mammoth task to set in place a framework within which the union will be able to defend and advance its members interests and those of the broader community which is crying out for basic services," said SAMWU.
COSATU's 6th National Congress from 16-19 September has placed the federation firmly at the centre stage of the country’s transformation process
Congress has committed COSATU to continue to play a central role in social transformation, to build the Tripartite Alliance and to refuse to be "spectators in the theatre of political, international and economic struggles".
"We will mobilise our members and the broader working class to defend the 1994 breakthrough, advance democracy and social transformation as well as prepare for a decisive victory for the ANC in the 1999 general elections," said COSATU's newly elected national office bearers after the congress. With over 2000 delegates, the congress was the federation’s biggest ever.
The NOBs said COSATU would also engage with its Alliance partners in developing a macro-economic strategy compatible with the needs of the working class.
They had harsh words for "those outside the Alliance and the MDM" who had expected the congress to be an anti-ANC rally. "These were the people who urged COSATU to leave the Alliance and to transform COSATU to serve capitalism better instead of focussing on the challenges of the national democratic revolution and the struggle for socialism," said general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa.
"We were expected by these elements to adopt resolutions that conform to the dictates of their ‘new world order’ in the name of pragmatism and realism. "
The congress strongly reaffirmed COSATU's commitment to strengthening the Tripartite Alliance. "We are all agreed that the success of the Alliance will depend in part on the role that COSATU members and the working class in general plays in building the ANC and the SACP, including effective participation at all levels," said the NOBs.
"Such participation will take into account the need to safeguard COSATU's independence, the responsibility that the leadership have to articulate COSATU positions to the membership and the public, our role as revolutionaries in transformation of our country as well as ensuring a working class bias in the ANC."
The congress gave a firm commitment to campaigning for an ANC victory in the 1999 elections on the basis of an Alliance election platform. COSATU's proposal for such a platform will be finalised at a meeting of the federation’s newly constituted Central Committee (CC) to be held next year. The CC will also further develop COSATU's socio-economic policy.
The congress reiterated COSATU's unwavering commitment to socialism and resolved to take concrete steps to "begin building socialism now".
"It is not socialism that has failed our country but capitalism under the stewardship of capital and the National Party," said the NOBs.
"We intend to relentlessly criticise the failures of capitalism in our country. Together with the SACP and where appropriate with the ANC, we will engage in public programmes that outline our views on socialism."
A large chunk of the congress was devoted to resolutions on building the organisation, proposals in the Secretariat Report and the September Commission and related amendments to the COSATU constitution. While the congress set broad policy on a number of issues, much of the detail and implementation programmes were referred to the CEC.
One of the most lively and lengthy debates was around a proposal from both the Secretariat Report and the September Commission that the federation adopt a quota system for women. While the quota system was not adopted, the congress has placed the development of women’s leadership at the centre of the federation’s programme. A resolution on the issue mandated the CEC to develop a broad political programme with a focus on:
The congress also directed the CEC "to set and monitor the implementation of measurable targets by affiliates and the federation" to achieve these objectives.
Following widespread discussion before the congress on COSATU's role, delegates resolved that the federation should intervene in affiliates where significant problems arise. The CEC will draw up guidelines on how and under what circumstances this intervention will take place.
The congress also resolved to strengthen COSATU locals and regions to deal with issues confronting is members on the shopfloor, in communities and at a political level.
COSATU NOBs said the federation’s executive committee members would be deployed to regional and local meetings in the build-up to COSATU regional congresses from 22-23 November.
They said COSATU would also focus on building the capacity of shopstewards to engage with management on democratising the workplace, defending and consolidating worker rights and servicing membership. This would help take forward the struggle for better working conditions and involve them in decision making in the federation.
In line with a resolution on building workers’ unity, the federation will approach NACTU and FEDUSA to take forward proposals on trade union unity.
Another key organisational resolution was on COSATU demarcation. The congress agreed in principle to the formation of broad sectoral unions, but referred a feasibility study on the issue and a decision on final demarcation to the CEC.
The congress stopped short of adopting a proposal on centralised collective bargaining within the federation, but agreed that the new broad sectoral unions would take responsibility for collective bargaining.
A key constitutional amendment was the formation of a new structure — the Central Committee, an idea which arose from the September Commission’s proposals on building the engines of COSATU. The CC, which has been likened to a mini-congress, will be COSATU's highest policy-making body in between congresses. It will meet once a year, except in years when COSATU congresses are held, and will be made up of one delegate for every 4000 members and COSATU NOBs. This will amount to about 500 delegates.
COSATU executive committees at a national, regional and local level will now meet monthly.
While the congress did not delve into socio-economic issues, it did adopt a declaration on Gear. This set out the reasons why COSATU rejects Gear as well as strategies to mobilise progressive organisations to resist elements such as subsidy cuts, privatisation and deregulation of the labour market.
COSATU NOBs said the federation would continue discussions with the ANC on a process to reach agreement on a macro-economic strategy based on RDP objectives. In line with the conclusions of the recent Alliance Summit, COSATU will also participate in the task team headed by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki looking at public sector transformation.
"We remain of the view that we should strengthen the role of the state in the productive sector of the economy as well as its capacity to provide basic services and infrastructure to communities," said the NOBs.
Proposals on socio-economic issues raised in the COSATU Secretariat Report, September Commission and affiliate resolutions have been deferred to a special CC, which is likely to be held in June next year.
The NOBs said, in the meantime, COSATU's approach to macro-economic policies would be guided by existing policies as outlined in labour’s Social Equity document, documents on restructuring of state assets and transformation of the public sector, and policies adopted at various COSATU policy conferences.
COSATU will raise its proposals at the ANC November policy conference, the December ANC National Conference, as well as the SACP’s 10th National Congress next year.
As part of the federation’s strategy to build international worker solidarity, the congress resolved to affiliate to the ICFTU.
"At the same time we will develop programmes aimed at building strong relations to unions in Southern Africa as well as the rest of the continent," said COSATU leaders.
"Congress has agreed to engage in struggles and awareness campaigns to expose the impact of globalisation on jobs, worker rights, sovereignty of nation states to provide social services etc.
"While we accept globalisation as a reality it is not a natural phenomenon or god given, but part of monopoly capital’s agenda to attack and undermine worker rights.
"We intend to put resources into building solidarity with unions in our region. At the same time, we will approach all international federations and national centres to agree on a programme of action focussed on globalisation and its impact."
Now that the congress is over, the challenge facing COSATU, its affiliates and structures at every level, is to ensure the implementation of the congress resolutions and other decisions. The first CEC after the congress, from 4-6 November, will discuss a three-year programme to give effect to this.
"The challenge we face as leadership," said COSATU NOBs, "is to carry through all congress decisions and continue to develop new policy proposals for consideration by the CEC and the CC.
"It is our intention to take all the congress decisions to the grassroots. We hope that all affiliates will also take steps to brief their membership on the outcome so that implementation is by all of our structures instead of the six NOBs."
Addressing delegates in his closing address to the congress, COSATU president John Gomomo said while the congress had adopted a range of resolutions, some workers in the mines, shops and factories did not yet know about these.
"It is your responsibility as delegates to take these back and debate them with your members to ensure that they are on board when we take our programme forward."
Most of the September Commission proposals were either incorporated into congress resolutions or referred to the CEC for consideration.
According to COSATU NOBs, the rest of the report will be used as resource material to continue to develop strategy and tactics to meet the challenges that lie ahead. This includes developing an approach to organise white-collar workers, vulnerable workers such as farm workers, domestic workers and the unemployed, they said.
President: John Gomomo
Re-elected president for a second term, NUMSA shopsteward at Volkswagen, Uitenhage
First Vice President: Connie September
Elected first vice-president, previously second vice-president; also SACTWU treasurer, shopsteward at Rex Trueform, Cape Town
Second Vice President: Peter Malepe
Elected second vice-president, also FAWU president, shopsteward at Premier Milling, Johannesburg
Treasurer: Ronald Mofokeng
Re-elected treasurer, CWIU treasurer, shopsteward at PG Glass, Johannesburg
General Secretary: Mbhazima Shilowa
Re-elected general secretary for a second term, TGWU national office bearer before he was elected as a COSATU national office bearer
Deputy General Secretary: Zwelinzima Vavi
Re-elected deputy general secretary (previously
known as assistant general secretary) for a second term, a former COSATU
regional secretary and NUM organiser.
There was much back-slapping and mutual praise between ANC and COSATU leaders at the opening session of COSATU's sixth national congress.
The keynote speaker was ANC president Nelson Mandela. And, if there was ever any doubt about COSATU's support for the ANC, this was firmly laid to rest by the tremendous welcome Mandela received from delegates.
On two occasions the congress broke out into chants of "ANC! ANC! ANC!", which must have warmed the president’s heart. Delegates also frequently sang a song — described as the top of the congress hit parade — in praise of Mandela and slamming Holomeyer — a reference to the anti-ANC grouping of former NP leader Roelf Meyer and former ANC MP Bantu Holomisa.
After the praise had died down, Mandela listened as COSATU president John Gomomo delivered a hard-hitting address outlining the federation’s analysis of the state of the nation and the challenges ahead.
Gomomo didn’t pull any punches. His harshest words were aimed at big business and their political allies, the NP, DP and the IFP. It was these forces which had always opposed and continue to oppose the Tripartite Alliance’s transformation policies and legislation, Gomomo said.
But he confessed that the Alliance had not functioned effectively over the past three years, particularly in areas such as joint policy formulation.
"We have failed to find a balance between our independent roles and our responsibilities as the Alliance leadership," Gomomo said.
"We have tended to see ourselves as leadership of our respective organisations rather than as Alliance leaders. We have failed to agree on what the opportunities, possibilities and constraints are in the current situation. This in turn has led to unnecessary tensions within the Alliance."
Given this situation, the only hope for transformation lay in a strong Alliance-led programme, Gomomo said.
He said progress had been made in areas such as labour legislation, the new constitution, electricity and water, health and education. But he reaffirmed COSATU's well-known rejection of the government’s macro-economic strategy, Gear. To delegates’ delight, Gomomo called it "the reverse gear of our society" and "a monster". Government had adopted Gear without the participation of the Alliance, stating that it was non-negotiable, he said.
Gomomo gave a detailed account of COSATU's problems with Gear, which he said would curtail the government from addressing the legacy of apartheid. "It remains an empty shell which will not deliver any benefit to the working class, particularly the unemployed and the rural poor."
But COSATU's rejection of Gear and its analysis of the weaknesses and challenges of transformation in no way detracted from the federation’s recognition of Mandela’s role as a giant in the struggle for a better life for all South Africans.
At the end of his address, Gomomo announced that COSATU office bearers, in recognition of Mandela’s role in the liberation struggle, had decided to give him a token of their appreciation on behalf of COSATU members.
COSATU assistant general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi then delivered a tribute to Madiba, describing his presence at the congress as a very special occasion for delegates and the workers they represent.
"Whilst our hearts are filled with joy at sharing a piece of you, we are regrettably mindful of the fact that this COSATU national congress is the last you will address as president of our important ally — the ANC — and our country.
"We want to thank you for your wisdom in putting our country firmly on the road of social and economic justice. Your name will continue to shine in our hearts like a diamond in the desert. We have no doubt that your name shall be written in bold letters, not only in the books of historians but in the hearts of generations of our people to come."
As a token of gratitude to the "unifier of our nation", Vavi presented Mandela with a painting of a peasant woman with a baby on her back, working in the fields. "This symbolises the hard labour of workers contributing to the economy of the country and the welfare of their families," Vavi said.
The tribute brought delegates to their feet, evidence that it reflected their own heartfelt feelings.
This was the backdrop to Mandela’s address. And few were surprised when he diverted from his prepared speech to in turn shower praise on Gomomo, calling his speech "a masterful address".
Mandela said the wealth of this country is not measured just by its minerals but by the calibre of the men and women it has produced. Gomomo’s address was a striking illustration of the fact that South Africa has outstanding leaders, he said.
"Anyone who is involved in the building of the new South Africa is advised to read this address," Mandela said.
He went on to give recognition to COSATU's role in the difficult anti-apartheid days, in building the new South Africa and in retaining political power.
Mandela said he has never had the slightest doubt that the ANC would win the 1999 elections. In the 1994 elections, the ANC failed to win a two-thirds majority as it was unable to campaign properly and had to contend with "a powerful and evil enemy". Democratic South Africa was now in control and an independent election process would be in place.
The president drew on the example of SWAPO in Namibia, which failed to win a two-thirds majority in the country’s first post-independence elections but did so in the second elections.
"We must be encouraged by that example and go out full steam to mobilise for the 1999 elections," Mandela said.
He dismissed opposition accusations that an ANC victory would turn South Africa into a one-party state. "They have short memories," he added, "when for more than three decades they had a one-party state in this country."
Like Gomomo, Mandela pointed to successes scored in improving the lives of the poor. "We can rejoice in the fact that, on average, every single day since the democratic movement took office, 1 000 people have gained access to clean water; that each week has on average brought another two clinics with access to health care for some 20 000 people; that currently 1 000 electricity connections are being made each day and 1 000 houses are being brought into construction or completed under the government’s capital subsidy programme every two and a half days."
Mandela said one of the tasks of the Alliance leaders was to help communicate the reality that such programmes were changing millions of lives. "The foundation for a better life has been laid. Our task is to speed up implementation."
He went on to highlight other gains affecting workers such as the new constitution and NEDLAC.
But Mandela acknowledged the need for more effective liaison and consultation on policy matters. "They provide a context for broaching issues which remain unresolved or are being debated, not only between government and organised labour, not only between the ANC and COSATU, but also within the ANC as much as within COSATU itself."
The recent successful Alliance Summit, Mandela added, had agreed on processes for continuing discussion where differences remain.
Public sector restructuring, macro-economic policy and labour market and industrial development strategies were fundamental to the transformation process. The Alliance needed to focus on strengthening consensus on policies and measures to promote shared goals in these areas.
The ANC president then began to lay the basis for a possible approach to reaching consensus, even on issues as controversial as Gear. The nature of the Alliance meant that its partners would not agree on all matters, he said. What was important was a readiness to discuss disagreements when they do arise and a shared commitment to find solutions. It is therefore not in keeping with the Alliance’s character when COSATU declares that its positions are non-negotiable.
Mandela then admitted that it had been wrong to put forward Gear as non-negotiable. This elicited a resounding response from congress delegates.
"It is wrong for the ANC to present its own positions as non-negotiable, even while exercising its broader responsibilities in government," Mandela said to wild applause. "Like any policy, it (Gear) is not cast in stone."
While the Alliance is still a long way off from reaching agreement on macro-economic strategy, Mandela’s address began to lay the basis for agreement on what the objectives of such a strategy should be.
"Our starting point must be the need to ensure that we produce the resources to achieve the goals of reconstruction and development; to use them to the greatest effect to improve the lives of our people, especially the poor; and to adopt the policies which promote the achievement of those goals," he said.
As agreed at the Alliance Summit, macro-economic strategy must be measured against the objective needs of transformation and the real constraints the country faces, Mandela added.
But the road to consensus is not going to be easy. "Any proposed elaboration or modification must find justification in changes in objective conditions and not merely in a desire for agreement or in a sectoral drive to satisfy narrow self-interest," he warned.
COSATU would like to see an ANC government with a "working class bias" and many oppose the idea of the ANC as a "neutral referee" between competing interests. Mandela did not address this issue directly. But he did say the following: "While our measuring-rod must always be improvement of the lives of the poor, democracy dictates that any such decisions must be with the involvement of all major sectors of our society, including business and labour."
Mandela pointed to a number of dilemmas arising from what he called "the competing nature of some goals, from the multiplicity of interests not only among the former victims of apartheid in general, but also within the ranks of the poor, including the organised and the unorganised; the employed and the unemployed; as well as rural and urban communities".
Such dilemmas and hard choices had delayed the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, Mandela said. This had brought into bolder relief the debate about our reading of the current situation and the route we should adopt towards the common objectives of a democratic, caring and prosperous society. But he was confident that a compromise acceptable to all sectors would be found.
COSATU has frequently complained about "jobless growth" and the president conceded this. "We have been more successful in turning the economy around and generating growth than we have been in creating jobs," he said, adding that the Labour Market Commission proposal to convene a national jobs summit had been accepted.
Mandela said he was confident about the country’s economic future, because the fundamentals were in place and that the Alliance bears a large responsibility for dealing with these challenges.
The Alliance has a mission to lead not only its own constituencies but the whole of society in the building of a new nation founded on a partnership of all social sectors.
"The structures of the Alliance must not fail us," Mandela said. "The processes set in motion at the recent Alliance Summit should ensure that all of us make a decisive contribution in charting the way forward into the 21st century."
Organised workers have the deepest interest in deepening and consolidating this phase of the national democratic revolution, acting SACP national chairperson Blade Nzimande told the congress.
Like ANC president Nelson Mandela, Nzimande praised COSATU for its role in the victory over apartheid and pointed to key advances made since the 1994 democratic breakthrough.
These advances included the disintegration of the old apartheid ruling bloc, as expressed in the crisis facing virtually all opposition parties.
"However," Nzimande warned, "the crisis in the ranks of the opposition does not automatically translate into our strengths."
There is still a very real threat of counter-revolution to undermine the emerging democratic order, he said. Another threat to consolidating the NDR was the new global world order. However, he cautioned against two mistaken approaches to globalisation — a defeatist attitude which took the current global order as given and an ultra-leftist stance which acted as if there were no international capitalist system dominating the world.
"Our task is to recognise the dominance of the capitalist market worldwide, whilst at the same time developing strategies and alliances to challenge the unjust and inequitable world order".
But the NDR could also face threats from within, Nzimande said. "The swelling of the ranks of the middle and capitalist class, necessary as this is during the current phase, means there is a very real possibility for sections of the previously oppressed to pursue the idea of a non-racial capitalist order."
This could lead to a situation where 30% of the population benefits from the new order while 70% remain outside, subject to the same conditions as under apartheid.
These factors pointed to the intensification of class struggle in the transition to democracy around shaping the nature of post-apartheid society and the state.
"The struggles during the writing of the new constitution, the lock-out clause, the LRA, and the current Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, are essentially about whether a post-apartheid South Africa will be a society or state where the interests of the bourgeoisie are dominant, or a society where the working class and its allies will be the dominant, if not the hegemonic force.
"The capitalist class is trying by all means to use its economic power to shape the nature of a post-apartheid South Africa. Some of the key elements of the struggle by the capitalist class, together with anti-worker and anti-working class elements, include the demonisation of organised workers and their struggles (calling them a ‘labour aristocracy’), and endless attempts to insist that workers ‘must sacrifice’ in the name of patriotism."
Nzimande said the attack on organised workers took various forms:
"Those who see this current phase of our struggle as an opportunity to get rich quickly," said Nzimande, "are threatened by the organised power of employed workers. Their demonisation of legitimate workers’ struggle as ‘counter-revolutionary’ is a cover for their own interests in exploiting the black working class in order to get wealthy as soon as possible."
He noted that those who called for organised workers to make sacrifices, under the guise of "patriotism", are not at the same time calling for the capitalist class to make sacrifices.
"The call for only organised workers to make sacrifices, without calling for the same from white monopoly capital, is essentially a reactionary call for the maintenance of the super-exploitation of the black working class.
"Business has not demonstrated how it intends facilitating the reconstruction and development of our country. Instead business argues that the intensification of capital accumulation will translate into the improvement of the conditions of the workers. This is a lie we must not accept."
"To argue that a general strike against capital is a strike against the democratic government is a deliberate distortion in order to continue to subject employed workers to the conditions under which they have suffered in the period of apartheid colonialism and its capitalist system."
"Organised workers are the leading detachment of the working class and have the organisational capacity and strength to lead the grassroots struggles of the working class.
"The struggles of organised workers are being counterposed to that of the working class, without at the same time having any programme or commitment by the capitalist class to create more jobs. This argument, therefore, amounts to calling upon organised workers not to fight for the betterment of their employment conditions whilst at the same time unemployment increases.
"The realisation of the goals of reconstruction and development is not going to come about through low wages, but through the payment of decent wages and the establishment of decent conditions of employment as a key component of improving overall productivity and meeting the basic needs of the majority of the people of our country.
"If there are any sacrifices to be made, they must come from both sides, labour and capital. The SACP challenges business to demonstrate to us what plans they have to create jobs and invest in socially productive sectors in order to realise the upliftment of the immense majority of our people."
Nzimande said the attempt to consolidate a post-apartheid South Africa as a capitalist country was at the core of these struggles. A key component of this was the massive push by capital for the privatisation of state assets. He said the SACP’s view was that private capital could never address the basic needs of the majority of the people.
"There is no evidence that private capital can address the scale of needs, inequalities and poverty characteristic of developing countries. Therefore, we should resist privatisation as a strategy for meeting the basic needs of our people.
"Our call, and that of the Alliance as a whole, is for a strong, interventionist state and, where necessary, for such a state to strengthen and transform existing parastatals or, where necessary, to create new ones in order to achieve the goals of the RDP.
"We do not want a neutral or a regulatory state, but a national democratic and developmental state. The question is not whether to privatise or not, but how best to meet the needs of our people during a phase where capital is powerful and dominant."
On Gear, Nzimande said the SACP’s central committee, after a year of reflection, discussion and debate, as well as interaction with Alliance partners, had come out in opposition to Gear.
But Nzimande said the Alliance could not spend another year on the macro-economic debate. "We believe that the last Alliance Summit, and President Mandela’s own remarks to this COSATU congress, that no policy is cast in stone, set us on a new path to find one another on this question."
"The SACP calls for the development of an industrial strategy aimed at identifying key industrial sectors for development. This must simultaneously address the basic needs of our people and create jobs. It is only within this context that we must develop a macro-economic model that underpins and strengthens such a developmental strategy.
"An industrial strategy should be premised upon the central RDP assumption that there can be no sustainable economic growth that is not centred on addressing the development needs of our country. Any macro-economic strategy therefore should be aimed at reinforcing such a job-creating industrial strategy, rather than the other way round."
The significance of the recent Alliance Summit, Nzimande told delegates, was the agreement that key policy measures would be decided jointly by the Alliance. "There are no sacred cows in terms of policy pursued by government or any Alliance partner during this period," he said.
"This renewed commitment not only to the Alliance but to tackling problems and key policy issues together, puts the Alliance on a very firm footing in the right direction.
He said those who want to see the Alliance breaking up would be disappointed. "The reason why these forces want the working class and its organs to be separated from the ANC is because they ultimately want to weaken both the ANC and this government, thus frustrating the consolidation and deepening of the NDR. Those in the ranks of the Alliance who are calling for the break-up of the Alliance are playing right into the hands of our enemies.
"The ANC is a broad movement that belongs to us all. The ANC equally belongs to the working class, organised workers and communists, just as it belongs to all other democrats who believe in the deepening and consolidation of the NDR."
Nzimande said tensions in the Alliance should not lead to calls for its break-up, but rather a focus on how to strengthen it, including making the voice of the workers stronger within the ANC.
Referring to attempts to discredit the September Commission Report for being vague about what it means by socialism, Nzimande said this was nothing but convenient political amnesia and a ploy to say there is no alternative to capitalism.
He referred to very rich post-Soviet Union debates about the renewal of socialism, starting with Cde Joe Slovo’s "Has socialism failed?". The September Commission Report also engaged in a very creative way about the paths to socialism, including the creation of social capital and the building of a truly socialised economy where mass formations play a leading role in economic control and reconstruction.
Socialism, Nzimande said, meant:
"Socialism means an effective redistribution of a country’s resources under the custodianship of the working class and a state led by the working class itself. The fact that Eastern-European socialism failed, does not mean that socialism has failed. Rather it calls upon us socialists worldwide, and particularly in South Africa, to learn from those errors without departing from our goal of bringing capitalism to an end."
Capitalism had failed dismally to address the needs of the overwhelming majority of the people, and even more so in the developing world, Nzimande said.
"The struggle for socialism starts during this present period, not in some future," he added. "The consolidation of the NDR should lay the basis for a transition to socialism. Hence the SACP’s slogan ‘Socialism is the future, build it now’.
But Nzimande said socialism would not come about through endless theoretical debates but through concrete struggles by the working class and its allies.
"Therefore our task is to go out and do agitational work amongst organised workers, the working class and the mass of our people. The consolidation of the NDR in favour of the working class and the bringing about of socialism depends on the balance of forces and the acceptance of socialism by the mass of the people on the ground. It is an organisational task.
"This calls for the organised workers to resolve once and for all to build the SACP as the political weapon of the working class. Organised workers cannot, on their own, take the struggle against the bosses to its logical political conclusion — the defeat of capitalism — unless organised and united as a political force, together with the rest of the working class."
Congress has taken COSATU's unwavering commitment to socialism a step further with a resolution to develop a socialist programme along with other socialist forces and to fight for a range of measures to build socialism now.
"Contrary to those who believe we should accept a capitalist agenda, we intend to relentlessly criticise the failures of capitalism in our country," said general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa speaking at a press conference after the congress.
"Together with the SACP and, where appropriate with the ANC, we will engage in public programmes that outline our views on socialism. It is not socialism that has failed our country, but capitalism under the stewardship of big capital and the National Party."
Congress delegates motivated for COSATU to go beyond mere rhetorical support for COSATU's alliance partner, the SACP. They encouraged affiliates to make monthly contributions to the Party and to set up workplace Party units. Contributions and cooperation with the SACP would include financial support as well as joint projects and programmes with the SACP.
A SADTU delegate said many affiliates had adopted resolutions to build the Party. "It is now time to move to translate this into concrete action. We must actualise this now," he said.
"We can no longer pay lip service, let’s build the Party," he said. This would benefit workers, as union contributions to the Party would in turn bolster our own cadres in the trade union movement.
The SACP required a strong resource base to ensure that it played a leading role in the national democratic revolution. "This should be developed and initiated by workers," said SADTU.
"We need to ensure that the SACP, as a revolutionary working class party, is sustainable," added a NUM delegate.
Motivating for workplace SACP units, a FAWU delegate said these would help sharpen the thinking and ideology of the working class.
A resolution passed unanimously at the congress said COSATU faced the challenge of translating its commitment to socialism into a practical and understandable programme. "While this is clearly no easy task, our commitment to socialism is unwavering," the resolution said.
While South Africa had a democratic state, economic power was still largely in the hands of a minority.
The main strategic opponent of the working class remained domestic and international monopoly capital. COSATU's ultimate objective was the transfer of political and economic power to the working class.
"COSATU must develop strategies which engage both the state and capital for the improvement of the material conditions of the majority, while developing a long-term vision of a socialist society," the resolution said.
It outlined a range of "building blocks towards socialism", which it said should form part of a broader socialist programme. The congress agreed that COSATU should play a role in formulating such a programme, along with other socialist forces. This programme would outline the short and long-term demands, the strategy and tactics and the key social forces to achieve socialism, as well as the type of socialism being fought for.
In developing a socialist programme, it was agreed that COSATU should educate and mobilise the working class about the importance of their role and contribution in realising socialism.
The congress emphasised the need for COSATU to deepen its relationship with the SACP as "a political party with a socialist vision". The two Alliance partners should develop a common vision of a socialist programme. Such a programme would include a Conference of Left forces.
In addition, COSATU and the SACP should develop "mass media instruments which give an alternative view of society, international issues and provide an outlet for socialist intellectual debate".
The federation should develop its links with "credible socialist organisations nationally and internationally in order to challenge capital on a global front", the congress resolved.
COSATU's short- and long-term policies must be underpinned by an ideological vision of a socialist society and the creation of a socialist state, said the COSATU congress resolution on the struggle for socialism.
"This means COSATU has the responsibility to begin building socialism now." The federation needs to fight for building blocks towards socialism, including:
One of the obstacles to fundamental transformation that COSATU identified is a failure by the ANC and the Tripartite Alliance to effectively drive policy formulation and implementation.
"One of the critical problems," said the COSATU secretariat report to congress, "is the fact that the formulation of policies — in certain areas such as the economy, housing, transport and others — has been driven by technocrats, the bureaucracy and ministries.
"The ANC and the Alliance more broadly has found itself dealing with these policies as they emerge, rather than driving their development. The result is that we often have to react to policies which are directly opposed to the thrust of the platform outlined in the RDP."
The introduction of Gear was the most serious example of this problem, the report said.
President Nelson Mandela, in his address to the congress, conceded that there hadn’t been sufficient consultation in the Alliance prior to Gear’s announcement. Even the ANC only learnt of Gear when it was already complete, he said.
In addressing the problem, the congress resolved that the Alliance should be restructured so that "the ANC in government is subject to the political control of the ANC party structure and guided by the policies of the Tripartite Alliance".
This approach has already underpinned COSATU's engagement on issues such as the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill. The federation has been seeking agreement on the Bill within the Alliance and proposed that the Bill be taken to parliament where it believes it will receive a sympathetic hearing from ANC MPs.
Addressing the issue of COSATU's relationship to the government, the congress resolved that this should be based on COSATU advancing working class interests. "This means that we should support the government when it adopts progressive policies and oppose it when it advances policies that are against the interests of workers."
The accountability of political representatives has also been of great concern to COSATU.
Addressing the issue of former COSATU leaders released onto the ANC’s election lists for national and provincial legislatures, the Secretariat Report said they were not homogenous.
"While some of them have been active in maintaining dynamic contact with the federation and in supporting pro-worker positions, others have been hopeless to say the least...
"At the same time," the report said, "many ANC MPs and MPLs who were never part of COSATU have actively supported our positions. We must therefore avoid adopting a narrow approach in addressing this question."
In line with this approach, the congress resolved that COSATU should:
In addition, COSATU and its affiliates should coordinate their activities to engage with the parliamentary process at national, provincial and local level.
NEDLAC is a terrain of struggle and should be defended since it constitutes a deepening of democracy and recognition of organised labour’s central role in social and economic transformation, congress resolved.
"NEDLAC was born out of our struggle to involve workers and society in the formulation of policies which directly affect them, particularly on social and economic issues," said a resolution on ‘relations and attitude to the present government’ drawn largely from proposals in COSATU's secretariat report.
"NEDLAC's composition and character means that it contains many contradictions and is a terrain of struggle. It is an institution that we should defend," the resolution said.
The congress also agreed that NEDLAC should not be counter-posed to parliamentary democracy, adding that NEDLAC negotiations did not substitute parliament’s responsibility to legislate. At the same time, parliament needs to be sensitive to agreements reached in the tripartite body.
"To ensure a dynamic and interactive relationship between parliament and NEDLAC, parliamentary committees should be briefed and have open access to all processes."
Where appropriate, parliamentary committees should engage in discussions on issues while they are under discussion in NEDLAC. This would help broaden participation in debates.
To ensure NEDLAC's potential for organised labour is fully exploited, COSATU should regularly assess and review its performance against criteria set out at its 1996 policy conference.
The congress mandated the federation to convene a workshop of senior leadership to develop a strategy to involve its regions and locals in the NEDLAC process.
Delegates at COSATU's congress unanimously resolved that, despite its weaknesses, the Tripartite Alliance remains the only vehicle capable of bringing about fundamental transformation in South Africa.
Despite seemingly tireless media speculation about a split in the Alliance, a resolution on the matter was one of the congresses’ least controversial. There was broad agreement on the need to strengthen the Alliance and to develop a clear transformation programme for the Alliance.
While Alliance relations a year ago had reached a low point following the government’s unilateral introduction of Gear, a recognition of the Alliance’s strategic role in the country’s transformation has never been at issue.
Yes, there have been weaknesses, which were highlighted at the congress: the lack of a common programme to drive governance and the transformation process and a lack of accountability and coordination within the Alliance.
But for COSATU this translated into a greater resolve to overcome the problems. Following an in-depth discussion in its central executive committee, COSATU released a discussion document on a programme for the Alliance in November last year. The document argued for an agreement within the Alliance on strategic areas to drive transformation. This was widely circulated and discussed within the federation and was later adopted by COSATU's executive committee. This process clearly laid the basis for the broad consensus on the issue among congress delegates.
In addition, a series of high-level Alliance Summits since April this year have begun to lay the basis for a common approach on how to propel transformation.
The congress resolved to take forward the most recent Alliance Summit decisions. This included agreement on the need for a broad transformation agenda which should deal with:
According to the resolution, this will provide the basis for engagement to continuously shift the power balance in favour of the democratic forces and prepare for victory in the 1999 elections.
Delegates also agreed that COSATU needs a plan to revitalise the Alliance. This would entail:
Echoing a common theme throughout the political discussions, the congress resolved that "COSATU and its affiliates should consciously organise workers to engage in Alliance structures at all levels to ensure a working class bias prevails in the Alliance’s programme and policies".
COSATU's commitment to the Alliance should be coupled with vigorous defence of the federation’s political independence. "Partners must fearlessly but constructively criticise each other," the congress resolved.
COSATU's organisational muscle and resources could provide a vital boost for the ANC’s 1999 election campaign. With the next general elections a mere 18 months away, Congress resolved that the Alliance should develop an election platform which would include agreement on a candidates list process as well as key policies for an election manifesto.
The Alliance should also look into financial resources for the election campaign, electioneering support for the ANC at workplaces and in communities as well as implementation and review structures for governance policies.
At a post-congress press briefing, general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa said a strategy would soon be developed to focus on KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape, as well as consolidate those areas which voted overwhelmingly for the ANC in the 1994 elections.
The Congress mandated COSATU's newly constituted Central Committee (CC) to finalise a proposal for the election platform. The CC is now the federation’s highest decision-making body in between national congresses.
COSATU has agreed in principle to deploy its most capable leaders to stand for election to ANC leadership positions as a way of strengthening the Tripartite Alliance and to ensure working class leadership of the ANC and the broader transformation process.
Delegates recalled the 1991 COSATU congress "two hats debate" about whether COSATU leaders should also occupy key leadership positions in organisations such as the ANC.
Everybody agreed that no leader should take two full-time positions in Alliance organisations. There was also broad agreement on the need for members and leaders to participate in building Alliance and MDM organisations and to stand for election at local and regional level.
But should COSATU allow its "best cadres", including its national office bearers, to stand for election to positions in the ANC, SACP and other MDM organisations, including the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC)?
A NUMSA delegate fired the first salvo in the debate: "COSATU can’t allow a situation where the general secretary of COSATU can be elected to the NEC of an organisation which has embraced Gear while COSATU has rejected Gear," he said.
"We require our senior leadership, when they go to Alliance meetings, to be independent and to espouse positions mandated by COSATU. When senior leadership are in leadership positions in both organisations, it poses problems of mandate and accountability.
"There is a difference with local and regional office bearers. But at a national level, we are dealing with macro-economic issues, where the independence of the labour movement is at stake. It would be a mistake to allow senior leadership into those positions."
But most affiliates — as well as SACP and ANC delegates at the congress — disagreed with this position. Speaker after speaker appealed for working class leadership of the ANC and the Alliance as central to the country’s transformation. This couldn’t be achieved from the periphery. It meant working class involvement at every level of the Alliance, including deploying top COSATU leaders into the ANC’s leadership structures.
SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin said the issue was how the SACP and other socialist forces should assert the independence of working class organisations while at the same time maintaining the leadership of working class ideas.
Asserting the importance of the ANC as the leading force in this phase of the struggle, he said it was an open secret that different social forces within the ANC would actively contest their views — and the ANC NEC elections.
The ANC represented a broad range of patriotic forces, including Contralesa, former DP elements and the newly emerging patriotic bourgeoisie. "They too have a right to contest their views," he said.
"So it cannot be that COSATU, in the name of working class purity, won’t contest the ANC. We can’t allow the direction of the ANC to chance. That is not working class leadership. That is refusing to take working class leadership," Cronin said.
Responding to fears that COSATU would be swallowed up within the Alliance, he said COSATU was the largest, best resourced and most well-organised formation within the Alliance.
"We strongly urge COSATU to reaffirm the position adopted at the 1991 congress and implement this in practice and at every level — not exclusive working class but working class leadership of the Alliance and to carry their experience into all levels of the Alliance."
NUM’s Gwede Mantashe agreed. Refusing to deploy working class leaders was the best way of confining the working class struggle into an "oppositionist" role.
"Who will put in place those building blocks for socialism?" he asked, referring to an earlier resolution on socialism.
"You can’t play a vanguard role from the periphery. COSATU must deploy its cadres to whatever structures (are key to transformation), including the ANC."
NEHAWU president Vusi Nhlapo reiterated the call for the congress to implement the 1991 resolution to build the Alliance to transform the country in the interests of the working class. And this meant deploying worker leaders into the formations of the Alliance.
Nhlapo said it was a contradiction that COSATU leaders were allowed to sit on the SACP’s leadership structures but not on the highest structures of the ANC.
COSATU general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa and president John Gomomo were elected to the ANC national executive committee in 1994 but resigned following a COSATU executive committee decision. Both Shilowa and Gomomo remain SACP central committee members.
"We as workers have left the ANC to be taken over by people who are not necessarily friendly to workers," Nhlapo said. "We created the space for Gear to be adopted by opting out of ANC structures.
"Who will put the working class position in the ANC if not workers themselves?"
"It is critical for us as workers to engage with the ANC," said a PPWAWU delegate. "We need to shape and contest the ANC to ensure that it remains working class biased and an organisation of the poor. We urge congress to adopt deployment of our leaders."
Supporting deployment in principle, TGWU said COSATU's constitutional structures should decide on a deployment strategy which did not weaken the federation’s organisational strength.
SADTU appealed for a deployment strategy aimed not only at the ANC and the Alliance, but also at government departments. This was necessary to transform the state and to overcome a situation where the implementation of transformatory policies was being sabotaged by government bureaucrats.
A number of speakers drew a distinction between union leaders elected as ANC leaders in their own right, those who themselves chose to take up other positions, and those deployed directly by COSATU structures into the ANC.
As COSATU deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi put it: "You can’t deploy yourself and then put it forward as if it is a COSATU deployment."
"There is a difference between individuals deciding what they want to do and COSATU deciding to deploy people," he said, "Or if, through a person’s participation in ANC structures, they are elected at the ANC conference. That is their democratic right."
Speaking at a press conference after the congress, Vavi said COSATU leaders elected onto the ANC NEC would represent a broader working class position.
He also addressed concerns that COSATU leaders deployed onto the ANC NEC would in turn push an ANC agenda within the federation. "Affiliates operate on the basis of the mandates from their constitutional structures. As we saw at the congress, affiliates feel passionately about their mandates, but are willing to accommodate each other. So no one person can manipulate the federation as we operate on mandates and on the basis of policies."
This would ensure that the deployment of COSATU leaders into Alliance structures would not compromise the independence of the federation or prevent it from criticizing its Alliance partners where necessary.
The deployment of COSATU leaders into the ANC is an historically correct position, ANC chairperson Jacob Zuma told COSATU congress delegates. He was part of the ANC’s delegation at the congress, which, along with the SACP, was granted observer status and speaking rights.
Other ANC leaders who made an appearance at the congress as part of the ANC delegation included labour minister Tito Mboweni, communications minister Jay Naidoo, sports minister Steve Tshwete, ANC Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi.
Zuma said, had union leaders not helped shape the ANC, the organisation would not have been as progressive as it is today. He recalled people such as Moses Mabhida, who were both leaders of the trade union movement and "giants of the ANC".
"It has never been seen as a contradiction for leaders who have earned their leadership out of struggle to contribute to shaping the policies of the Alliance and participating in the ANC as a political organisation. The ANC has a history of comrades in the unions, in the Party and in the ANC. It has never been a contradiction.
"You can’t shape the policies of the ANC as a political organisation and of the Alliance with people who don’t have workers’ interests at heart.
"If you want a separation of the Alliance partners, you create an artificial confrontational situation where the ANC develops policy without the participation of COSATU leadership, and once you have concluded, you say they are wrong. Yet you have had the opportunity to develop those policies. So it is correct to say the leaders of COSATU should be deployed to the ANC.
Leaders shouldn’t be left on their own to develop policy, he added. Workers needed to ensure that they didn’t deviate.
"We have developed a democratic culture in South Africa. Democracy will be reversed if we don’t work to improve it every day.
"It is in your strategic interests to ensure that those leaders who have workers interests at heart are there," he said.
Many of the union leaders and other delegates at congress cut their political teeth in the heady days of the national democratic struggle to bring the apartheid government to its knees.
Mass mobilisation was at its height and the mass democratic movement (MDM) of organised workers, students, women, youth, urban and rural people was able to act as one, united around common objectives.
Today there is a strong sense that, in the new political situation, this unity of purpose has been lost and that the once-powerful MDM has increasingly become fragmented.
COSATU's November 1996 discussion document on a programme for the Alliance pointed to "a general demobilisation of our people" and said many mass-based structures were weak. "We have failed as an Alliance to consolidate MDM organisation as a meaningful united force in society since the elections. This must be rectified through the development of an effective programme to bring these organisations on board."
The COSATU secretariat report to the congress again raised the issue: "The Alliance and its constituent members need to build on the rich traditions of the 1980’s, which saw a wide variety of mass formations mobilised under one umbrella to achieve the common goal of ending apartheid tyranny and securing national liberation.
"Now, under new conditions, we need to harness that tradition to build a mass movement for transformation. Such a movement is essential to take forward programmes in areas such as public sector transformation, housing, health, literacy, rural development and others. It will also be critical in neutralising those forces attempting to block or derail the transformation process."
The secretariat report proposed that the Alliance, together with other mass formations, develop such a programme as well as fora to take the process forward. The congress reaffirmed this view, pointing to the need for the struggles of mass organisations to be united and coordinated. The MDM should be seen as a home for popular mass formations that currently lack a common agenda and programme, said a congress resolution on the issue.
It was agreed that COSATU should initiate a broad popular movement for transformation (PMT) around common struggles on issues facing the working class.
While there was little debate on the resolution, NEHAWU assistant general secretary Fikile Majola said the transformation process was key to the current stage of the struggle. "This defines the movement that we want to create," he said. "The MDM helped end apartheid. Now we need a programme for transformation that goes beyond just the MDM."
Congress agreed that a key campaign in the process of galvanising a broad movement for transformation will be an anti-poverty and equality campaign together with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) movement, communities, religious organisations and others.
But this regrouping of the forces for democratic transformation and socialism should not be seen as a narrow electoral coalition.
"The MDM forces from the Alliance, youth, civic, women, religious and progressive NGOs need to be rallied behind a radical democratic and socialist agenda," congress said.
"COSATU must forcefully articulate this position to ensure that the masses do not remain passive spectators in the country’s transformation process."
Congress called for radical restructuring to ensure the survival of local government and the effective delivery of services.
Local administrations and funding methods should be restructured and municipal boundaries redrawn, the congress resolved.
Measures to give effect to this restructuring include:
The congress also resolved that:
In a resolution on building community structures, the congress agreed that COSATU should actively participate in rebuilding the civic movement. The federation should also engage the SA National Civics Organisation (SANCO) on issues — such as the federation’s opposition to the privatisation of municipal services — which have a direct effect on what the federation stands for.
As part of this process, COSATU should initiate a discussion on the nature and the role of the civic movement.
The resolution said building strong, democratic organs of civil society was important to strengthen democracy and to ensure that communities were able to mount effective campaigns around socialist-oriented development.
As part of this process, COSATU should encourage:
The nature and form of globalisation was the subject of vigorous debate as congress delegates grappled with developing a response to it. At issue was whether globalisation was an inevitable and desirable process which in its current form had a range of negative consequences for workers, or whether it was an extension of neo-liberalism, the latest form of imperialism.
SACTWU noted that the current form of globalisation was characterised by accelerated tariff reduction, liberalisation of exchange controls, major privatisation drives, and increased control over developing economies by multinational and transnational corporations and multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The negative consequences ensuing from these policies are increased job insecurity, deregulation of labour markets, reduced and less affordable access to basic services, worsening basic conditions of employment, and reductions in social and welfare spending.
Referring to the resolution adopted at COSATU's fifth national congress in 1994, FAWU said their understanding of COSATU's position is that the federation is against the current form of globalisation. "We are against the disastrous effects of globalisation. It is not the whole of globalisation that is disastrous."
This was a view shared by COSATU general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa. "I’ve never understood COSATU to be saying that we are opposed to globalisation per se. If that is the case, then it means we had a false consensus in the 1994 congress. What we need to do is ensure that workers’ rights are also globalised," he argued.
NUM assistant general secretary Gwede Mantashe contended that globalisation is the thrust of neo-liberal economic policy. "We can’t say we are going to co-exist. We must develop a response to resist it. To look for alternatives is correct, but not enough."
SACTWU's Ebrahim Patel said his union agreed with the NUM that globalisation was a site of struggle and must become an area of engagement. Patel said, however, that it was not possible to go back to an insular economy "where we only produce for ourselves. We accept that we want to export our minerals to other countries, that we need to import machinery into South Africa We cannot say that we don’t want anything to do with globalisation. We must change the character of globalisation. We can’t simply resolve to reject it."
Patel said that, where globalisation created the opportunity for workers to have international shop stewards’ councils and to have solidarity across national frontiers, the labour movement had to seize these.
Supporting the NUM, TGWU argued that opposing globalisation was not a realistic response for workers. "We are in a global village. Globalisation has to do with international trade and investment, and worker rights. That’s why we went to the WTO, precisely to attack this form of globalisation. We want Southern Africa to have a more equitable share of international markets."
"MNCs and TNCs will be there," he said. "What is at issue is the extent to which they invest, whether workers can prevent the creation of export processing zone-type development, and whether they invest in job creation, respect worker rights and labour legislation. That’s what we are concerned with. We don’t want the kind of globalisation which underpins neo-liberalism."
SAMWU disagreed on the basis that TGWU and FAWU’s interpretation of globalisation did not attack capitalism, but sought to reform it. "If we tinker with it we are not going to get rid of it. We must fight against it if we are to realise our goal of socialism," said SAMWU general secretary Roger Ronnie.
Honing in on concrete demands the international trade union movement should put forward, Shilowa said that, in addition to the social clause, reforms were required to the ILO, World Bank, IMF and WTO to reflect the reality of the impact of their operations on workers’ lives. "The work undertaken by these institutions and the TNCs/MNCs in the name of globalisation has a negative impact on the lives of workers. Our limited participation in some instances, and total exclusion in others, is a situation we should no longer tolerate." He added that, similarly, international trade union work can no longer be study tours and meetings only.
CWIU felt that too much of COSATU's international activity thus far had been ‘ceremonial’ or symbolic. Countering this, Shilowa contended that COSATU had been able to have a real impact at international level. "Look at Swaziland" he said, echoing the praise heaped on COSATU by International Confederation of Free Trade Unions’ (ICFTU) general secretary Bill Jordan. "For the first time in history, the borders of a country were completely sealed off as a result of workers’ actions."
NEHAWU said that workers’ efforts at countering the consequences of globalisation would be compromised if the federation did not take forward into the international arena its policies on the transformation of the international trade union movement
TGWU urged congress to develop an international minimum programme of action. "Such a programme must be sufficiently broad to unite all international trade union movements in a campaign. In this context the ICFTU would be critical" said TGWU general secretary Randall Howard.
Congress agreed on a two-phased approach to tackling this. In the first phase, COSATU would participate in an international week of focus on globalisation culminating in May Day celebrations focusing on a specific international theme.
In the second phase, an international day of action on a normal working day, consisting of strikes, demonstrations, pickets, stoppages and a global strike by workers. The CEC will engage with the international worker federations to which COSATU is affiliated with a view to agreeing on a date and the forms of action. The purpose of the proposed action will be to highlight workers’ opposition to the negative effects of globalisation, and to put forward its alternatives. FAWU said affiliates who already have relations with ICFTU trade secretariats should begin mobilising now.
Congress also endorsed SACTWU and SAMWU's proposal to establish a global solidarity fund. Motivating this, SACTWU argued that, as globalisation became more fundamental to the context in which workers fought, their own resources ought be used to fight their battles. Workers could no longer only rely on governments to fund their international activities. However, congress did not agree that five per cent of COSATU's income be placed at the disposal of the fund. They opted instead to defer a decision on an amount to COSATU's CEC.
A suggestion to increase the staffing of COSATU's international department was also deferred to the CEC, with the proviso that such a decision had to be taken in the context of improving COSATU's capacity to do international work.
"I am overjoyed to leave South Africa tonight with the news that one of the world’s leading national centres has now become part of the international family of trade unions. We are all stronger for it," said International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) general secretary Bill Jordan.
In an interview immediately after COSATU's 6th national congress endorsed affiliating to the Brussels-based body, Jordan said it was fitting that "Africa’s strongest trade union movement is now in a position to play a more influential role in international affairs".
Jordan said COSATU's decision to affiliate represented a huge boost for trade unionism in Africa. Through ICFTU’s regional formation, Afro, COSATU would provide leadership and expertise on a continent facing more problems than any other in the world.
Jordan said he was not perturbed by the agenda COSATU affiliates set for themselves upon affiliation. During debate on the affiliation resolution, delegates made it clear that they were seeking to reform and modernise the ICFTU, as well as build and maintain links with trade union formations such as the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour.
"It is not unique that new affiliates come in with a mission to improve the organisation they’re joining. New ideas for reforms and changes of direction in the ICFTU are welcome," Jordan said. "There are areas in the way the ICFTU works which are in need of change. Some of these we are already trying to address."
Gathered at our 6th National Congress, COSATU has taken note of the fact that the end of the twentieth century has seen an ugly resurgence of violation of human and worker rights and repression of trade unions and worker leaders as part of a conscious programme to trample the interests of poor and working people throughout the world.
We are committed to take our place alongside all organisations of the working class throughout the world to see to it that the increasing integration of the world economy leads to the improvement of the conditions of working people and, ultimately, sees the eradication of poverty in the world.
In particular we note:
COSATU, therefore, declares its commitment to the following solidarity activities:
In addition to fighting all forms of covert repression of human rights and workers and worker organisations, COSATU will oppose any systematic violation of workers’ interests through the casualisation and informalisation of labour market, and through the introduction of anti-worker growth models, such as Export Processing Zones.
COSATU, together with the workers of the world, must strive to smash all forms of anti-worker growth and repression, wherever in the world these backward tendencies rear their ugly heads.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) general secretary Morgan Tsvangirai has added his voice to calls for an end to feuding between the two leading pan-African trade union co-ordinating bodies. Tsvangirai is attending COSATU's sixth national congress. Earlier, COSATU general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa reported on the ‘conflictual co-existence’ between Afro, the ICFTU continental formation, and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU).
Enmity between the two is known to run deep, with both organisations competing for the affiliation of national centres in Africa. Many national centres are affiliated to both bodies, in the hope of securing financial assistance from one or the other.
Tsvangirai blamed historical differences between the ICFTU and the World Federation of Trade Unions for the present lack of a single voice for African workers. "OATUU came into existence as a result of the Cold War era and policy of the Non-Aligned Movement of non-affiliation to either the WFTU or ICFTU", he said. "With the emergence of a unipolar world, it is important for the two organisations to merge, to put behind us the historical differences between east and west."
In an interview at the opening session of congress, Hafeni Ndemula, acting deputy general secretary of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) repeated calls for Namibian president Sam Nujoma to reshuffle his cabinet.
The NUNW accused several cabinet ministers of not advising Nujoma correctly after they won his support for substantial personal perks for ministers upon retirement. The perks include continued availability of staff such as domestic workers, bodyguards, drivers, and personal assistants, as well as generous pensions.
"The current cabinet is not honest. They are not advising the president correctly about what is happening in the country. The demand for such perks is out of step with levels of poverty, unemployment and human resource development in the country", Ndemula said. "Nujoma needs to bring in new patriots who will look into the situation of the workers and the nation."
Ndemula said government leaders had to be seen to be making similar sacrifices as those made by workers. "Workers have done their bit. We have had to put up with export processing zones so that Namibia can attract investment.
Ndemula added that the NUNW had no objection to amending the country’s constitution to allow Nujoma to serve a third term as president. "His leadership has been vital in leading Namibia to independence," Ndemula said.
Commenting on recent statements by trade officials in Windhoek appearing to
signal a rethink about the welcome that South African investors could expect in
Namibia, Ndemula said the NUNW had begun experiencing difficulties in concluding
agreements with South African-based companies. "When it comes to negotiations
and collective bargaining, the Namibian management always claim that they have
to seek mandates from their head offices in South Africa." The NUNW was
insisting that a majority of the directors of Namibian subsidiaries of South
African-based companies be resident in Namibia.
Organisational issues enjoyed top priority at the congress. Many COSATU structures have remained unchanged since the federation was formed in 1985. The strong emphasis on organisational debates was evidence that the time was ripe to deal with the need for organisational reform to enable COSATU to meet the challenges of transformation.
The most vigorous debates were around a proposal for a quota system for women, demarcation of unions, a new framework for collective bargaining and an NUM proposal that the COSATU constitution should not define COSATU and affiliate elected office-bearers as officials.
Significant changes were agreed to in some areas but in others — such as on collective bargaining and the quota system — it was clear that delegates were not prepared to make a strategic shift.
Demarcation has been a long-standing thorn in the side of many COSATU affiliates. After much debate, congress agreed in principle to the setting up of key broadly defined sectors within the federation as outlined in the secretariat report (see separate article on demarcation). The CEC was mandated to commission a study into the implications of forming "super unions" and to take final decisions which should be implemented before the next congress.
The need to strengthen COSATU structures — including its affiliates, regions and locals — and their capacity was a key theme in both the secretariat report and the September Commission. The secretariat report pointed out that, while COSATU had a number of organisational strengths, glaring weaknesses remained. These included the uneven development of affiliates; a gap between leadership and the grassroots; the lack of participation in constitutional structures by worker office bearers; poor servicing in some affiliates; inter-affiliate rivalry and the federation’s lack of capacity to intervene effectively in solving such problems.
The September Commission pointed out that COSATU and its affiliates often "operate in an ad hoc way, reacting to initiatives of others rather than taking initiatives themselves".
The Commission recommended that COSATU reform its structures and practices to strengthen the capacity and engines of the federation, without radically changing the constitutional relationship between the federation and its affiliates. This, it was argued, would enable the federation to more effectively put forward its own proactive programmes for transformation, and to engage, negotiate, lobby and mobilise behind these.
The relationship between the centre and the affiliates came under close scrutiny in congress discussions. A particular focus was COSATU's role in solving problems within affiliates.
The secretariat report said the COSATU constitution made it clear that the federation’s constitution and policies took precedence over those of its affiliates. The problem was not the constitution, the report argued, but a lack of political will to confront the problems. What was required was a "willingness and understanding from affiliates that the Executive and new national office bearers have a right to intervene decisively when an affiliate steps out of line with regard to the federation’s constitution and policies".
Delegates agreed with this in principle, but raised questions about the circumstances in which COSATU should intervene and the nature of this intervention. SAMWU argued that it was necessary that "the balance between autonomy and centralism be clearly spelt out".
Central questions in the relationship between the federation and its affiliates, according to NEHAWU, was resources and political influence.
The congress mandated the CEC to draw up guidelines on how and under what circumstances COSATU intervention in affiliates would take place.
It also recognised the need for "resources and certain powers to be concentrated in the federation" to enable it to intervene effectively in enforcing federation policy and in assisting weaker sectors.
Linked to this was the need to build capacity and share resources within the federation. "A new sense of belonging to a single organisation has to be cultivated in the federation," said a congress resolution on the issue. A range of measures were agreed on to remove "destructive competition" amongst affiliates and to ensure greater cooperation and the sharing of resources. This included seconding staff to weaker affiliates, creating uniform employment and training conditions and a common wage structure among all union staff members and sharing media and education resources.
On capacity building, it was agreed that COSATU's capacity to deliver training to shopstewards and staff should be strengthened and that affiliates should devote resources to this. There was some debate on the percentage of union budgets which should be allocated for union training. Bigger unions such as NUMSA argued that, to eliminate unevenness within the federation, unions should put aside 10% of their budgets for training. While the principle of allocating adequate resources for training was agreed on, the exact formula for this was referred to the CEC.
The congress agreed on:
Congress debated a CWIU and NUMSA proposal that COSATU "initiate talks with NACTU and FEDUSA with the aim of establishing a loose confederation of trade unions (CONFTU)". They argued that this was a stepping stone to achieving COSATU's objective of "one country, one federation".
However, our affiliates raised serious concerns with this approach. TGWU said they didn’t believe in "marriages of convenience". "We need to look at where we come from, our political approach. COSATU policy does not say one country, one confederation. We must ensure we don’t create space for others to survive," said TGWU, adding that COSATU's political responsibility was to out-organise NACTU and FEDUSA.
COSATU should safeguard against having friends just for the sake of it, added CAWU. "Friends must be on the basis of principle."
A resolution was eventually agreed on which said that the federation needs to have a frank discussion on how to achieve unity with other federations "without diluting our ideological content and vision". This had to recognise significant differences in political outlook.
The resolution also pointed to the need to "deepen emerging cooperation" and
called on the federations "not to confine their cooperation to NEDLAC but to
strive for joint activity at a national level and regional cooperation around
campaigns such as wage struggles".
The absence of SAAPAWU at congress underlined the difficulties facing the organisation of farm workers. The September Commission highlighted some of the problems: "In agriculture the majority of farms employ small numbers of workers. Large distances separate one workplace from the next. Access is difficult. Much work is seasonal. As in construction, employers employ large numbers of ‘illegal immigrants’, children and women on the farms. Farm workers face very specific employment conditions: their housing is tied to their jobs, they are bound into paternalistic and intimate relationships with individual owners, who are mostly extremely conservative and racist. COSATU's affiliate in this sector is new, relatively weak and still very small."
The congress agreed that COSATU should assist SAAPAWU in mobilising funds to
boost the union’s financial viability. Other affiliates organising in the sector
should hand over their members to SAAPAWU.
The dissolution of SADWU left organised domestic workers without a home. The secretariat report pointed to CEC and Exco decisions, stating that "it is not realistic for domestic workers to form a viable union of their own". The congress resolved that the CEC ask NALEDI to do research into setting up advice centres to service domestic workers. The study on demarcation of unions should also look into finding a viable home for domestic workers in one of the super unions.
A package of constitutional amendments — particularly changes in COSATU's national structures — arose from the September Commission report’s chapter on "Building the engines of COSATU — restructuring the federation". The commission argued for closer integration of affiliates in the activities of the centre with an emphasis on structures of coordination and implementation such as the National Office Bearers and Executive Committee, and improving their capacity.
Since its launch in 1985, COSATU has had only two full-time office bearers. The other four have been worker office-bearers based in their workplaces. The secretariat report referred to this "serious capacity bottleneck" as a glaring weakness which limited COSATU's capacity to intervene effectively.
The September Commission argued that having only two full-time office bearers meant the organisation had weak and under-resourced capacity for implementation and coordination. It proposed that all COSATU's six office bearers be full-time. The Commission argued that the worker office-bearers were continually torn between their duties in the federation and their responsibilities in their workplaces and affiliate unions. This actually undermined worker control and democracy within the federation, it said.
The proposal for six full-time office bearers, which many thought would be a heated debate, was readily accepted by Congress and the Executive Committee will look into the practicalities of the matter. It is expected that the worker office bearers will have the status of full-time shopstewards, where they will be paid by their employers but available on a full-time basis to do COSATU work.
In line with motivations for greater affiliate involvement in the centre, the Executive Committee will now meet on a monthly basis. Similar to before, it will consist of COSATU NOBs, and two delegates who should be "national leaders" from each affiliate in good standing. At least one of the two should be an affiliate member.
The CEC will continue to meet as before, however representation has been changed so that affiliates with a membership of over 80 000 will now have four delegates on the CEC while those with less than 80 000 members will have two delegates. Like with the Exco, delegates will have to be "national leaders", and at least half the delegation should be members of the union.
One of the most significant constitutional amendments was the introduction of a new policy-making body, the Central Committee. This will meet once a year, except in the year in which a national congress is held. It will consist of the NOBs, and union delegations made up of one delegate for every 4000 paid-up members provided that union members will make up the majority of these delegations. The new body will be the federation’s highest decision-making body in between national congresses and is seen as a way of improving worker participation in policy-making in the federation. It will replace COSATU policy conferences, which had limited constitutional powers.
Regional congresses will be held once every three years, and regional executive committees will meet on a monthly basis. Local executive committees will consist of affiliate local office bearers or other affiliate representatives where the union does not have a local structure. The local will elect four local office bearers.
The only vote held at the congress was around an NUM proposal that elected office bearers no longer be classified as officials. NUM argued that, unlike when the federation was formed, worker leaders are now being elected as national and regional leaders and should therefore be accorded a different status to officials who were employees of the federation and its affiliates. NUM’s proposal was seconded by NEHAWU.
However, many affiliates objected to the change on the basis that it would undermine worker control and worker leadership within the federation.
When delegates failed to reach consensus, COSATU office bearers called for a vote. Even last minute negotiations failed to avert a vote. A secret ballot was called but this was withdrawn after it was found to be unconstitutional. Eventually a show-of-hands vote defeated the motion.
Earlier, a resolution on advancing worker control in COSATU, the Alliance, the broad mass movement and at all levels of society, was passed with little debate.
For six years, COSATU has discussed industrial demarcation with no finality. Past decisions on single transport and public sector unions remain unimplemented.
Last year COSATU's executive committee set up a commission on the future demarcation of unions. All affiliates were given the opportunity to make submissions to this commission in November 1996. A discussion document was then drawn up which outlined various options put forward by unions.
"It is now time to make a decisive move on this matter," COSATU said in its secretariat report to the congress.
The report proposed that the current 19 COSATU affiliates be merged into six demarcated sectors, to be implemented within three years and that action be taken against unions "not cooperating". The sectors proposed are:
Predictably, the issue was highly contested. Early on in the debate, NEHAWU — one of the sponsors of the merger drive — reminded delegates of the COSATU statement going into this Congress: "The first priority for this Congress is that COSATU must emerge as a vigorous and strong organisation to meet the new challenges".
The move towards "super-unions", it was suggested, was necessary for such an outcome.
The establishment of key broadly defined sectors will first require current affiliates to form cartels, which will assist the mergers into super unions.
The debate centred on whether COSATU affiliates were ready for this new industrial demarcation. Some in the Congress suggested that "small and pure" is better than "bigger and powerful".
Some smaller affiliates argued that broad sectoral unions would be unable to accommodate their members’ specific concerns and conditions in their industry.
SASBO said while they supported the principle of one union, one industry, they were not comfortable with forced mergers.
"The finance industry has its own specific needs, requirements and problems," said a SASBO delegate. If SASBO became part of a super union, it would lose this focus.
SADTU raised doubts about a broad public sector union, particularly when it came to mandates.
Those in favour of a new demarcation pointed out that some affiliates were already going ahead with merger discussions and that this should rather take place within a framework set by the federation. A lack of clarity on the demarcation also contributed to poaching of membership between unions, they pointed out.
The congress debated the options of either agreeing to the new demarcation and the necessary implementation strategy, or whether to go the route of a feasibility study and decide on demarcation later.
A key point in the discussion was the need to ensure the implementation of mergers, particularly since previous decisions on mergers had not been effected.
After a long debate, which at one stage almost led to a vote, the congress agreed that:
The congress agreed in principle to the setting up of broadly defined sectors within the federation as outlined in the Secretariat Report and mandated the CEC to finalise these. The mergers, it was agreed, should be completed by the next congress, in three years’ time.
Sectors suggested are manufacturing; mining and energy; the public sector; private sector services and agriculture.
The broad sectors should be organised into cartels that should take responsibility for defining sector policy, take responsibility for collective bargaining and set parameters for other union work.
The congress mandated the CEC to commission a study on the implications of the super unions and how to establish them, taking into account accountability and mandates; bureaucracy; service to membership; administration and worker control.
One of the most heated debates at the congress was that around a quota system for women. After many hours, the potentially far-reaching proposal aimed at advancing women’s leadership in the federation, was turned down.
This was despite strong backing for the plan from COSATU's national office bearers, the September Commission and a number of unions.
The Commission report argued that COSATU's long-standing resolutions on building women in leadership had not been implemented. "Women remain under-represented at all levels of leadership in the federation, from shopfloor to national executive levels," the report said. Only eight percent of national and 15 percent of regional union leadership are women.
The Commission argued for a broad women’s empowerment strategy, including organisational strategies, a programme of education and training, a parental rights and childcare campaign, affirmative action in the labour market and for COSATU to play an active role in building a national women’s movement. These recommendations were accepted by the congress.
The Commission also recommended that COSATU and affiliates adopt a quota system in electing worker representatives and office bearers in all structures with a target of 50% representation of women by the year 2000.
While stating a preference for a 50% quota, the secretariat report said it would consider a 36% quota for COSATU, since 36% of members of COSATU affiliates are women. It proposed that affiliates set quotas in line with the proportion of female members in their unions.
The Commission admitted that there was "great resistance" to the quota system from a number of men in the federation. "A quota system is a direct threat to male domination," it said. "Those opposing the system should offer alternatives that would bring about the same results."
Deputy general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi opened the debate with an appeal to the congress to arrive at a compromise and not to simply reject the quota system.
COSATU general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa took a strong stand. "The key issue," he said, "is the mechanisms that can be used to achieve these goals. Speeches and resolutions have been made all along since 1985, and the problems continue. The federation cannot carry on in this way. I appeal to the house to agree to consider the quota as part of a broader strategy."
NEHAWU, SAMWU, CWIU and SARHWU supported the quota, arguing for structural mechanisms to ensure concrete change in women’s representation in leadership. They saw the quota system as part of a broader strategy of education and empowerment.
NEHAWU and SAMWU have both implemented quota systems in their own unions. They said this had led to important progress in developing women’s leadership and gender consciousness in their unions. The quota was necessary to achieve the "full and complete emancipation of women".
Motivating for the quota, NEHAWU quoted the late Mozambican leader Samora Machel, saying "the emancipating of women is not an act of charity".
They argued that the quota system forms part of the struggle against patriarchy and women’s oppression, which is fundamental to socialist transformation.
The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) and the SACP, which had observer status and speaking rights at the congress, entered the debate in support of the quota system.
The SACP said the debate should be located in the context of an understanding of the relationship between apartheid, patriarchy and capitalism. "The quota system deals with the structural inequalities and barriers that exist, creating the space for women to take up leadership. The irony is that unions support affirmative action in the workplace but not in the unions."
The ANCWL and the SACP argued that the high percentage of women ANC MPs in parliament had been an historic achievement made possible by the quota system.
"We would like to believe that this is a progressive federation, one that is about challenging inequality," said the ANCWL. "The quota system addresses unequal power relations. The ANC used to argue that women should be elected on merit, but we were forced to use the quota system because patriarchy remains intact."
The quota system was a progressive mechanism which was part of a broader strategy for women’s empowerment, the League argued.
A dominant thread in the arguments against the quota was that it amounted to tokenism and that women should be elected on the basis of merit alone.
Some argued that the quota was insulting to women as it assumed they need special treatment. Women need training first to equip them to take up leadership positions, according to the anti-quota position.
A woman delegate from FAWU rejected the quota as window dressing, saying she had risen in the ranks of her union without the use of quotas.
A SACTWU delegate said she too had reached her position based on merit. She cited Connie September, head of the September Commission, COSATU national office bearer and SACTWU treasurer, as an example of a woman who had made it without the help of the quota.
A NUMSA delegate said women’s empowerment should start at the factory floor and that what was required was increased "dedication" from women to take up leadership. We do not want "comrade mamas" sitting at the podium unable to argue positions, she added.
In support of the quota, SARHWU strongly criticised the use of isolated individual achievements as a motivation against the quota, since the federation prided itself on a collective approach to empowerment.
The union argued against the view that education for women should be the first stage, followed by affirmation, since these processes could run parallel.
The development of women’s leadership was also linked to the challenge of prioritising the employment of women in industries where they are under-represented, SARHWU added.
NEHAWU challenged those who rejected the quota to come up with alternative mechanisms that would ensure that women take up leadership in the federation. They pointed out that all arguments against the quota assumed that women were not capable.
Women’s representation is a structural problem arising from patriarchy and therefore required concrete structural mechanisms to deal with the problem, NEHAWU added.
The debate was resolved when a compromise put forward by the NUM was adopted before congress was about to go to a vote. This was that the COSATU CEC would develop a programme on building women’s leadership within a broad political programme, with measurable targets to be finalised by the CEC.
The form these targets should take and whether this could include the use of quotas, was left open.
After the debate had died down, delegates’ assessment of the outcome varied greatly. For some it was disappointing and frustrating and some felt it should have been put to a vote. Others felt space had been left open for the issue to be pursued further.
On the face of it, and as reported in the mainstream press, it appeared as if COSATU women themselves rejected the quota. However, this is a superficial assessment. It is true that all the women delegates who spoke on the issue rejected the quota system. The only woman to speak in support of the quota was an ANCWL representative.
However, this did not necessarily reflect the views of all women in the federation. There was a lack of participation in the debate by union gender coordinators. In the pro-quota unions, the delegations opted for men to speak to avoid the debate being viewed as a women’s issue.
In the anti-quota unions, a number of gender coordinators and women activists decided not to speak, as this would have implied that they personally supported their union’s rejection of the quota. Those women delegates who spoke on behalf of their unions against the quota system were loudly applauded by the male-dominated congress. However, most unions did not put women forward to speak on other issues debated at the congress.
While the quota was rejected, there are strong indications that the idea enjoys greater support within the federation than ever before.
Growing numbers of men, particularly at a leadership level, support the quota. The unions which argued in favour of the quota make up 21% of COSATU's membership.
Some union national gender coordinators argued that, if there had been a secret ballot on the issue, a number of delegates would have voted against their union’s position.
Assessing the discussion, Connie September summed it up as follows: "The congress has not taken a firm decision but has rather lumped the positions together in a way that emphasises a programme with targets to be set by the CEC, but which may or may not include quotas.
"The debate was depressing and disheartening because people have not dealt with the actual issue. It is a contradiction to say that there was agreement, because the only agreement was on the need for women’s empowerment. When it came to the issue of mechanisms, which was the core of the debate, there was no real agreement.
"It was very disappointing to see women themselves articulating positions against the quota. The process from here needs to involve meaningful engagement whereby the CEC adopts a decisive position rather than by the avoidance that we had in congress."
While the quota debate dominated congress discussions on gender, the congress adopted a number of other resolutions on gender issues in the workplace, in the unions and on building gender structures.
The congress also resolved that COSATU should initiate the building of a national women’s movement led by the Alliance to advance the needs of working class women. An Alliance conference in 1998 was proposed to concretise this and the CEC has been mandated to take this further.
This Congress notes:
Declares that:
3.1.7. Call for a people’s budget;
Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals has come under increasing criticism for his high interest rate policies. He defends these policies by arguing that high interest rates are needed to control inflation. This article looks at this debate and the connection between the money supply, the banking system and interest rates. This is the third part in our popular economics series by NALEDI's James Heintz
When most people think of money, they think of currency — paper notes and metal coins. Economists, however, argue that currency is only a small part of the money supply. Most of the money in the South African economy is not held in the form of currency, but rather as deposits in the bank. Therefore, bank accounts such as cheque accounts and savings accounts make up most of the money supply. The money held in these accounts can then be used to purchase goods and services in South Africa.
Whether an asset should be counted as money or not depends on its liquidity. What is liquidity? Liquidity is the ease with which an asset can be converted into cash. For example, a savings account is very liquid because someone can change the savings account into cash very quickly using an electronic bank card. A car, on the other hand, is not very liquid. It takes a lot of time and effort to convert a car into cash. Therefore, assets with a high liquidity are considered part of the money supply while assets with a lower level of liquidity are not.
Interest rates can be thought of as the price of money. If you need money and you do not have any, you might be able to borrow from a bank. The bank will supply you with credit in the form of a loan, but then charges you interest on that loan. Therefore, the rate of interest is the price you must pay to have access to money. How does South Africa compare to other countries in terms of its interest rates? The table above shows short-term interest rates, adjusted for inflation, of ten other countries with emerging markets. Notice that South Africa has one of the highest rates.
Since most of the money supply in South Africa is held in the form of bank deposits, the private banking sector exerts a large influence over the money supply. Banks make their profits by lending money. In exchange for this financial service, they receive a payment in the form of interest. In many respects, banks are like any other business — they sell a product (financial services) at a particular price (the interest rate) and make a profit. A primary difference, however, is that a bank’s profit does not come from selling a product produced by workers in a factory. A bank earns its profit by controlling a scarce resource in the economy — money.
When a bank receives a deposit, it uses the money it receives to make a loan. Banks cannot lend out the entire amount of their deposits. They must keep a fraction of those deposits in reserve to meet the obligations they have to depositors. For example, suppose you deposited R500 in a bank. The bank will then use this R500 to make loans to other people. Legally, the bank cannot use all of this money to make loans. They must keep a fraction of their deposits on hand in case you want your R500 back. The fraction of deposits which the banks need to keep are called reserves.
By making loans, banks create money. Consider the example in which you deposit R500 in a bank. Suppose that the bank then makes a loan of R450 to another person. This second person then uses this money to make a minor repair on her car. The mechanic then takes the R450 for the work performed and deposits it in another bank. What happened to the money supply? The initial deposit of R500 has produced another deposit of R450. Total deposits in the banking system have increased by R950. By making loans, banks therefore increase the supply of money.
The Reserve Bank of South Africa is a central bank, officially independent of government, which develops interest rate and banking policies for the private financial sector. The Reserve Bank gets its name from the fact that it controls the supply of reserves in the banking system. Because of its control over the reserves in the banking system, the Reserve Bank has a direct influence over the money supply and the lending environment which the private bankers face.
The policies which the Reserve Bank adopts are often called monetary policies. By changing its policies, the Reserve Bank changes the growth of the money supply and the interest rates in South Africa. Changes in the interest rates then have a substantial impact on investment, job creation, and the public sector.
One of the roles of the Reserve Bank is to lend money to private banks. Suppose a private bank made too many loans and cannot meet the legal requirement for reserves. The private bank can then borrow money to meet its legal obligation from the Reserve Bank. The interest rate which the Reserve Bank charges other banks is often called the Bank rate (or the discount rate). When the Reserve Bank raises the Bank rate, this makes borrowing to meet the reserve requirement costly. Private banks should respond by borrowing less from the Reserve Bank which means making fewer private loans and slowing down the growth of the money supply. Furthermore, when the Bank rate increases, private banks will also raise their own interest rates, making money more expensive and interest rates higher throughout the entire economy.
As we saw at the beginning, interest rates in South Africa are very high. This has a number of effects on the South African economy, including the level of investment, economic growth, and the sustainability of the public sector.
Many investment projects — e.g. building a new factory or up-dating equipment — require financing. Firms must borrow money in order to pay for the investment. High interest rates make financing expensive and can reduce investment. Furthermore, when interest rates are high, financial investment has an advantage over productive investment. If the interest rate is 17 percent and the rate of return on expanding operations is only 12 percent, a firm will tend to keep its money in the bank instead of expanding. Less productive investment means fewer jobs and slower growth.
High interest rates do not only make investment more expensive. They also make many purchases more expensive. Think of buying a house. Most people have to borrow in order to buy a house. If interest rates are high, fewer people will be able to afford housing and demand for housing will suffer. High interest rates slow down demand in many areas of the economy, not only houses. Less demand then means slower economic growth and higher unemployment.
The government also borrows money in order to finance delivery in key social areas such as housing, health care, education, and welfare. When interest rates are high, a large portion of the government’s budget goes towards interest payments, not delivery of public goods and services. In South Africa, one rand out of every five goes towards interest payments. Therefore, high interest rates limit the developmental role of the government in addressing the inequalities of the apartheid era.
If high interest rates have such damaging economic effects, why doesn’t the Reserve Bank lower them and relax its tight monetary policies? The argument given by Chris Stals is that lower interest rates could lead to inflation. When interest rates are lower and the money supply expands, economic activity also increases. This increase in economic activity can increase prices, causing inflation. Therefore, the Reserve Bank argues that strict monetary policy is necessary to keep prices low and protect the value of the rand.
But is containing inflation that simple? Food prices in South Africa rise faster than the average level of inflation. Food inflation then places upward pressure on prices in other parts of the economy. But food inflation is a result of the structure of the industry and agricultural policy, not the growth in the money supply. Furthermore, much of the increased demand for credit currently in South Africa has come from corporations. When corporations borrow at high interest rates, the costs of doing business increase. These costs could be passed on to consumers in the form of higher (not lower) prices.
The Reserve Bank’s narrow approach to monetary policy with its anti-inflation bias clearly constrains the development of South Africa. This is the basis of the current debate around monetary policy in South Africa — should the Reserve Bank be concerned with broad economic issues in the country or should it only focus on inflation and the value of the rand? Clearly, the Reserve Bank and Chris Stals have made their choice with potentially unfortunate results for the majority of people in South Africa.
The Industrial Health Unit from the University of Natal, looks at how to calculate how much money a worker gets paid in Compensation for Temporary Total Disability. This means that a worker has an accident which is very severe and has to stay completely off work for a while until he/she gets better.
The worker must receive 3/4 (75/100) of his/her monthly wage:
A worker is paid R1000,00 per month
Monthly wage R1 000,00
Multiply by 75 R75 000,00
Divide the answer by 100 R750,00
The worker would get paid R750,00 a month instead of the usual wage of R1000,00 per month.
If a worker is paid at the end of each week and not at the end of the month, it is worked out as follows:
A worker is paid R250,00 per week
Weekly wage R250,00
Multiply by 4 R1 000,00
Add 1/3 of the weekly wage (because a month is more
than 4 x 7 days)
(R250,00 divided by 3 = R83,33)
R1 000,00 + R83,33 R1 083,83
Multiply by 75 R81 249,75
Divide by 100 R812,50
A worker is paid R812,50 per month instead of the weekly wage of R250,00 per week.
The worker’s employer is responsible for paying the worker for the first three months off. If the worker cannot return to work after three months, then the Compensation Commissioner takes over the payments and the worker receives payments once per month from the Commissioner. These payments may continue for up to 24 months (two years). If, after this time the worker’s condition has not improved, the Commissioner may decide that the condition is permanent and give compensation for permanent disability. All doctor’s and hospital bills and any medicine are paid by the Commissioner.
For more information contact the Industrial Health Unit at (031) 260-2441
COSATU's Brits local is taking up campaigns to improve people’s lives in the workplace — and in the community. This is the second in our series on COSATU locals across the country
For COSATU's Brits local there is no iron wall between the issues facing workers where they work and where they live. Its leadership is well-steeled in political, workplace and community struggles and it is this commitment which still underpins the local’s programme.
Unlike many other COSATU locals, a vigorous campaign around health, safety and the environment has topped the agenda of the Brits local, which falls under COSATU's Northern Transvaal region.
The campaign, according to the local’s chairperson, Soli Phetoe, was launched after workers had died from lung cancer and it became clear that a local company, Vamedco, was undermining the environment and refusing to adhere to minimum health and safety standards.
"Occupational health and safety and the safety of the environment has become our priority, as many workers have died of lung cancer as a result of the company’s negligence on health and safety matters," says Phetoe.
Phetoe is a full-time shopsteward at Firestone, a company he joined after leaving school. His first taste of leadership was in the apartheid days when he was elected chairperson of the Action Committee opposed to the incorporation of Matshakaneng, a township near Brits, into the former Bophuthatswana homeland.
The Action Committee was part of the then Transvaal Rural Action Committee, which opposed forced removals. Through well-organised marches and township residents’ resilience to withstand the onslaught of the Mangope regime, the committee succeeded in resisting the incorporation into Bop.
After the anti-incorporation campaign, a civic was launched in the Hartebees area and the Matshakaneng Action Committee became part of SANCO structures. Phetoe was elected as the branch secretary.
"Little did I know then that my involvement in community struggles was in actual fact preparation for tough working class struggles ahead. When I was elected as a part-time shopsteward in 1990, many workers at Firestone knew who I was and already had confidence in me," he explains.
When Phetoe was elected chairperson of the Brits COSATU local in 1993, he saw it as a huge responsibility. But he did not waste any time in getting down to work. "The first thing we did when we were elected to serve in the local was to call an urgent meeting of office bearers where we drafted the year planner and consolidated the local’s programme of action," he says.
Phetoe maintains that the idea of the year planner has helped the local focus on goals and implement projects it has set for itself. High on the agenda of the local office bearers’ (LOBs) meeting was the troubling issue of ensuring successful local shopsteward council meetings.
"We noted from our previous experience that it was difficult to hold local meetings during the weekends. Many shopstewards simply do not turn up for the meetings if they are held during the weekends. On top of that, we had the problem of accommodating part-time shopstewards who work on weekends."
To get around this, the local negotiated with the Brits Employers Association for a full day paid time-off for all the shopstewards in Brits. Phetoe says this time-off negotiated by the local was separate from the time-off affiliates negotiated for their shopstewards.
As a result, meetings of the COSATU local are now held during working hours and, according to Phetoe, they are always well-attended.
Other steps also helped improve attendance. The local meetings are held in different venues to accommodate shopstewards that live in outlying areas. LOBs check that meetings do not clash with affiliate meetings and affiliate shopstewards are encouraged to participate in carrying out tasks.
"Before the local council meeting we consult with the affiliates to make sure that they do not have other activities on the day of the meeting," Phetoe explains. Informal structures such as a task team made up of shopstewards from different affiliates helps the local executive committee (LEC) in carrying out logistical tasks prior to the local meetings, marches, workshops and rallies.
The LEC makes sure that it drafts an agenda that generates discussions and stimulates participation of shopstewards. Phetoe says this is done by including key issues from various affiliates. The co-ordinators of the local’s sub-committees also submit monthly reports to the LEC.
Phetoe says the local’s agenda is not restricted to narrow workplace issues. "Political developments form an integral part of the agenda. Broadening the political understanding of the workers is necessary if the labour movement wishes to develop well-balanced cadres," he argues.
For Phetoe, worker leaders’ role is not simply to act as messengers between workers and employers. He says the labour movement should not make the blunder of producing working class leaders whose specialisation is merely to take workers’ demands to the management and to take management responses back to the workers without linking those demands to the broader ideology that underpins working class struggles.
The local is heavily involved in a campaign for the compensation of the workers who died of lung cancer due to unprotected exposure to vanadium, a substance used to harden metal. At the same time, negotiations for the reinstatement of more than 100 mineworkers dismissed for taking part in a 1990 strike are at a delicate stage.
The campaign for the compensation of the deceased workers started in 1995, when the late Levy Mamobolo, then mayor of Brits, invited the local to meet a group of international environmentalists. The group had been involved in the campaign against forced removals in Oukasie.
"After a fruitful exchange of information on the damage that can be caused by unprotected exposure to vanadium, it was clear to us that something needed to be done to expose the company’s negligence of health and safety standards."
The group advised COSATU to send former Vamedco workers for medical examinations. The local approached the National Center for Occupational Health and Safety to carry out the examinations on former Vamedco workers and residents of the nearby townships. All the 120 workers and 40 residents examined were found to be suffering from chronic coughing and the majority of them showed advanced symptoms, including coughing up blood.
To highlight the seriousness of the problem, COSATU staged a number of marches in Brits, which were supported by organisations like the ANC, Earth Life and SANCO. Phetoe says at first people did not support the campaign. But after the local held a series of workshops to educate the community and the workers about the threat posed by vanadium mining in the area, the campaign began to gain momentum.
The local also held a number of meetings with North West provincial government representatives in an attempt to sell the idea of the need for a health and safety committee in the province. After these meetings, the provincial government organised a health and safety workshop which was attended by the labour, business and the government.
"At that workshop, we raised the need to form a technical committee on occupational health and safety," says Phetoe. "At first business opposed the idea, but following our strong arguments they accepted it."
The committee is made up of 12 members, four from each stakeholder. Its mandate, according to Phetoe, is to explore whether there is a need for a more permanent committee and also to get all stakeholders in the province to be part of the committee.
Besides health and safety, the COSATU local is also involved in a campaign against women and child abuse. On 1 November, Ntshafatso Greater Brits Forum Against Women and Child Abuse will be launched. The forum will highlight the seriousness of the problem in the area and carry out campaigns that will heighten community awareness on women and child abuse, he says.
Like many other COSATU structures, the Brits local has been active in the COSATU campaign on the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill. Phetoe says the local’s march on 21 August in Brits was one of the biggest in the region. The day was part of COSATU's programme of action in which different COSATU regions staged 24-hour strikes on different days to highlight the federation’s demands.
Employers intransigence in the negotiations on the Bill was highlighted at the local level when a Brits-based company, Lumex, threatened to lock out workers who participated in the strike. In retaliation, the workers staged a sit-in at the factory from 20 to 22 August.
"Workers from other companies supported their comrades at Lumex by offering food during the three-day sit in," Phetoe says. Despite the pressure of the sit-in, the company continued with the two weeks lock out. After lengthy negotiations between NUMSA and Lumex, the workers were allowed to return to work.
The local is also heavily involved in the economic upliftment of the area and has delegated two shopstewards to serve on the Greater Brits Development Forum.
But the local does have its weaknesses, Phetoe admits. He is particularly concerned about the absence of a systematic strategy to recruit more members. "Despite having the potential to double the membership, finding a dynamic strategy to increase our membership continues to dodge us," he explains.
Another key challenge facing the local, according to Phetoe, is to improve communication channels among COSATU locals in the region. "At this point in time I am not quite sure what the other locals are doing and I am sure they do also not know what we are doing and how we could coordinate our programmes. The region needs to find a solution to this problem. COSATU locals are obliged to help each other in many ways, otherwise the struggles we are waging so painfully will bear no fruit at the end of the day."
Another problem facing the local is the lack of accountability of local councillors, who Phetoe claims have a tendency of seeing themselves as being above COSATU structures, even though they were seconded to the ANC by COSATU. "They have the tendency of seeing themselves as senior comrades and refuse to include labour in their caucuses," he explains.
COSATU in Brits is also serious about the education of its members and their families. The local has held several workshops on the LRA, facilitated by the regional education officer. They have also asked the region to conduct workshops on the BCE Bill and on macro-economic issues. "I hope this will help to empower the shopstewards in understanding the fundamental dynamics that inform COSATU's loud rejection of Gear," he says.
"We are also demanding the establishment of an education trust to assist students from disadvantaged communities to further their post-matric studies," Phetoe says. Workers will contribute to this planned education fund and the local is hoping to finalise negotiations with the business sector on this later this year.
The COSATU Brits local office bearers are: Soli Phetoe (chairperson); Sam Makhabela (vice-chairperson); Frieda Nkoane (secretary); Willie Lekhoate (deputy secretary) and Violet Molotsi (head of finance task team).
COSATU congress committed itself to organise mass action during the visit to South Africa of Indonesian dictator Suharto in protest against repression in Indonesia and the occupation of East Timor. Here we give some background to these struggles.
The congress resolved to:
Indonesian president Suharto, took power in 1966 after conducting a bloody campaign which left more than 500 000 (some claim one million) Indonesians dead, many of them communists and supporters of left parties.
Before declaring himself president, Suharto was a major general of the Indonesian army. Today, Suharto and his army rule Indonesia with an iron fist.
The Indonesian military plays an active role in business and the state administration. The military is represented at every level of society from the village to the cabinet. For example, the head of the Supreme Court, the head of the parliament, university rectors and regional governors are all from the military.
Indonesian workers do not have the right to form their own independent organisations. All workers must belong to the government-controlled trade union, the All Indonesian Workers’ Trade Union (SPSI). The SPSI leadership is very conservative. They support repression of workers’ demonstrations and strike action by the government and the military.
In spite of the repression, Indonesian workers continue to take to the streets to fight the Suharto regime. They have gone on strike and have formed their own independent organisations. Workers protested vigorously against a new labour bill introduced in June this year. The bill:
Suharto and his army have arrested and victimised workers involved in action. Mukhthar Pakpahan, general secretary of one of the independent unions, and other political activists, are facing subversion charges. In Indonesia, this charge carries the death penalty. J
Key demands of the democratic movement in Indonesia
In 1975, Portugal withdrew from its colony, East Timor. This was a result of the struggles of the East Timorese under the banner of the pro-independent FRETILIN popular movement.
This movement, which had a Marxist tradition, established Revolutionary Brigades in villages to carry out literacy and health campaigns.
On November 28, 1975, the Democratic Republic of East Timor was set up by FRETILIN, which declared East Timor an anti-colonialist and anti-imperialistic republic. Suharto responded by invading East Timor, killing 60 000 people within the first few months of the invasion.
In 1976, Indonesia annexed East Timor against the will of the East Timorese. They sent 40 000 troops into a country with a population of 150 000.
The East Timorese have suffered greatly at the hands of the Indonesian army. They are imprisoned, tortured and massacred. For example, in 1991, Indonesian armed forces fired on a peaceful demonstration at the funeral of an activist, killing 180 people and later executing another 100.
In 1993, a prominent leader of the pro-independence movement, Xanana Gusmao, was jailed for life and is presently serving a 20-year sentence. The people of East Timor say that Xanana is their Mandela. Today many countries all over the world have recognised East Timor’s right to independence. Even the United Nations supports this right.
When Xanana was sentenced he had this to say: "As a political prisoner in the hands of the occupiers of my country, it is of no consequence at all to me if they pass a death sentence here today.
"They have killed more than one third of the defenceless population of East Timor. They are killing my people and I am not worth more than the heroic struggle of my people who, because they are small and weak, have always been subjected to foreign domination."
Forward with the struggles of Indonesia and East Timor!
Phansi Suharto, phansi!
Viva international solidarity, Viva!
Thanks to Althea Macquene, NUMSA Western Cape Education Officer, for writing the articles on Indonesia and East Timor. Information for the article comes from the International Labour Resource and Information Group (ILRIG). ILRIG also has a video called "Death of a Nation", which looks at Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in 1975. Phone them on (021) 476375.
For further information on East Timor, click here.
