Satawu will not back Ramaphosa for his party’s leadership

THE South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) will not endorse Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the next ANC leader because the Treasury, the Reserve Bank and the Constitution have constrained the ANC’s ability to transform the economy.

Satawu is the latest Cosatu affiliate to pronounce on ANC succession even though the union federation said it would be silent on the issue. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Satawu have broken rank on the issue and nailed their colours to different masts.

The NUM has backed Ramaphosa, but Satawu general secretary Zenzo Mahlangu said it would not support his candidacy.

Satawu is among Cosatu affiliates aligned to the “premier league”, which wants Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to take over.

Cosatu has steered clear of the issue to avoid another debilitating factional fight, but it has not barred affiliates from pronouncing on their preferences.

Mahlangu leads a troubled industrial union that has been through two splits since 2012.

Satawu has endured the acquittal of Mahlangu on a charge of abusing union funds, the resignations and expulsions of senior officials and the assassination of its Gauteng leader, Chris Nkosi, for which no one has been arrested.

Public sector unions are largely in favour of Ramaphosa.

But Mahlangu, who is also an ANC branch member, said individuals in the coming battle for governing party leadership did not matter. What mattered, he said, was whether the ANC shifted its policy trajectory to usher in an era of economic freedom.

The ANC compromised on the appointment of a Reserve Bank governor and finance minister after the first democratic election and this was where its problems began, he said.

His comments are in line with those of Zuma loyalists, who charge that white capital continues to run the Treasury and the Reserve Bank, hence the move to appoint Des van Rooyen in December 2015. The move was disastrous for the economy, wiping billions off the stock exchange and tanking the rand before being it tracked back four days later after an outcry.

Mahlangu said Satawu’s approach was to avoid Cosatu being divided over who should lead the ANC. After Polokwane, Cosatu emerged disappointed after it had placed its “sweat” behind a particular slate of leaders.

“Cosatu was not a kingmaker in Polokwane ... it was never a kingmaker, allowing the ANC to run its own things and elect its own leaders,” Mahlangu said.

What unions should be worried about was that the ANC was fast losing its electoral majority, he said. This was because of its economic policies, which did not benefit most South Africans. As long as structural economic issues were not resolved, the ANC would lose electoral numbers, he said.

“Our democracy, like the book, was ‘born in chains’. You lose the economy, you are just as good as dead. We never wrote the Constitution ... it was written by some white people, we lose every day, we don’t even understand it [the Constitution],” he said.

What matters is whether the ANC shifts policy trajectory to usher in an era of economic freedom