Cosatu faction chokes on Cyril’s success
Cosatu’s last-minute decision not to sign an agreement on the national minimum wage was a curious move. There is a political undercurrent to it that is distinctly factional.
The federation first mooted a national minimum wage in discussion documents ahead of its 2012 national conference and the journey to this point — where there is actually agreement not only on the idea of a minimum wage to tackle income inequality but on the level at which it will be set — has been a bumpy one.
Its ally, the ANC, agreed in its 2014 election manifesto to “investigate the modalities” of the introduction of a national minimum wage. It was hardly a certainty that it would ever reach a stage where there would be broad agreement between labour, business and the government, even on the need for one.
At the time, Cosatu was facing the deepest crisis in its 30-year history, which eventually led to a split in which its largest affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, was expelled. The ramifications of that factional fight linger on in the federation.
The fallout centred on the failure by the Zuma administration to make good on policies agreed to at the Polokwane conference in 2007. It was also based on a realisation by some in Cosatu’s ranks, led then by Zwelinzima Vavi, that the federation had been bought and was on the brink of being sold by a false prophet in President Jacob Zuma.
Fast forward to 2016 and the majority of the leaders sitting on the federation’s central executive committee, who had defended Zuma and purged the organisation of those opposing him, recognised the damage his presidency had wrought on the ANC, the alliance and the federation itself.
In its central executive committee meeting after the local elections, there was broad agreement that Zuma had to go to “rescue” the ANC and reverse its rapidly declining electoral support.
Some months later, the federation came out in open support of ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma at the ANC’s 2017 elective conference. This, however, was after its largest affiliate, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), had called on Zuma to step down immediately and allow Ramaphosa to take the reins.
On Wednesday, on the eve of Zuma’s final state of the nation address as ANC president — he will deliver the address for another year or two unless there is an early recall, but will be something of a lame duck without the party presidency card in his back pocket — Nehawu reiterated its call for Zuma to step down immediately. This was as an “alternate state of the nation address” was being delivered by SaveSA.
It was also as Zuma deployed 441 soldiers to “assist” police in maintaining law and order during the state of the nation address, pre-empting clashes between Zuma’s supporters and his detractors, who are set to gather in Cape Town as he delivers his address. Meanwhile, his backers in the province will be assembling nearby for a rally that he is set to attend after his address.
Back in Cosatu House, Zuma’s backers are also working hard in his defence. The pullback from the deal on the national minimum wage has been described by insiders as among the final attempts of the Zuma clique there to prop him up and sabotage Ramaphosa’s moment in the sun after he delivered successful national minimum wage negotiations.
While Cosatu argued that it needed time to obtain a mandate from its central executive committee, it had in the past called special sittings of its leadership structure to obtain such mandates for issues of much less national interest. One insider said: “If we really needed a mandate before the signing, there are many ways we could get it. That is not a train smash.”
The agreement on the national minimum wage is an important victory for Ramaphosa. With Cosatu as his core support base, delivering on the policy proposal would cement their support and put on display the negotiating skills he is often lauded for but that have been a rare sight in these fraught political times.
Many thought that handing him the labour market negotiations was a poisoned chalice intended to cripple him, much like the e-tolls issue became a ball and chain for former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
It is understood that while there are outstanding issues on the wage package that Cosatu needs to see tackled, the work to iron them out would have continued. But those opposing Ramaphosa in Cosatu House, including its president, would not have wanted to see this victory highlighted at a time when the spotlight was meant to be firmly on Zuma.
Some leaders supporting Ramaphosa feel the move has backfired and any attempt by Zuma to “hijack” Ramaphosa’s victory in achieving a reasonable outcome has been rendered useless by his own backers in the federation because any announcement on the minimum wage in the state of the nation address would be incomplete given Cosatu’s reticence.
Such is the politics, even behind policymaking, at a time when the ANC’s future rests on the type of leadership it elects to succeed the hopelessly wanting Zuma.
THE PULLBACK FROM THE DEAL ON THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED BY INSIDERS AS AMONG THE FINAL ATTEMPTS OF THE ZUMA CLIQUE