Saftu is a welcome new player

South Africa has a new trade union federation. At 700 000strong, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) is set to rival Cosatu, which remains the biggest trade union federation in the country.

Beyond its numbers, Saftu is significant because of where it comes from. It is made up of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which was expelled from Cosatu in 2014.

At the time of its expulsion, Numsa was Cosatu’s biggest affiliate with a membership of 320 000. Numsa’s departure dragged Cosatu below the two million mark, derailing any effort to achieve its target of four million members by 2015.

Numsa railed against the unprincipled support of the ANC when in its view the party no longer represented the interests of workers. It went as far as refusing to support the ANC in the run up to the 2014 general elections.

Rallying behind Zwelinzima Vavi, who was also expelled by Cosatu, also placed Numsa on the wrong side of ANC factional battles, given that its president Sdumo Dlamini is a staunch supporter of President Jacob Zuma.

It is ironic that Cosatu today has partly conceded to Numsa’s argument by calling for Zuma's resignation, falling short of completely abandoning the ANC.

Saftu is now the fourth trade union federation in the country. Given that its founding unions are made up of yet other unions that broke away from Cosatu, Saftu is likely still to attract other disgruntled affiliates of Cosatu.

It is also important to ask what the formation of a new federation means for the unity of workers. The goal and guiding objective of Cosatu has always been to unite workers under one federation.

The formation of Saftu and the challenges within Cosatu caution not just the trade unions but civil society in general on the perils of allowing themselves to be beholden to party political interests.

Strong, vibrant, independent civil society organisations are integral to the sustainability of democracy.

They are good for the promotion of the public interest by ensuring that government is held accountable to the constitutional standard it is obliged to uphold.

The formation of Saftu reflects the renewal of the spirit or civic activism in broader organised civil society.