Two Cosatu affiliates’ backing for Losi
At least two Cosatu affiliates have thrown their weight fully behind Zingiswa Losi to take over as the labour federation’s first female president.
Losi, who hails from Nelson Mandela Bay, is currently serving as the second deputy president of Cosatu.
Among those who will be backing her at next month’s elective congress in Johannesburg are some of the federation’s biggest affiliates, including Nehawu (National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union) and NUM (the National Union of Mineworkers).
Losi refused to be dragged into discussions about her possibly taking over from current president Sdumo Dlamini.
She said on Wednesday that she was not comfortable talking about her possible nomination “as it is still with [the] unions and I have not been approached as yet”.
Dlamini, too, remained tightlipped about whether or not he would stand for a fifth term or step aside, saying he never spoke about positions and nominations to the media and was not about to start.
Cosatu has a total of 17 affiliates which, combined, represent about 1.7-million workers.
Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the leadership had a meeting with Dlamini and expressed their opinion that he must give way to new leadership.
Saphetha said Dlamini agreed that it was the right time for him to step aside.
He said Nehawu was nominating Losi, not because she was a woman or for her to be a “quota leader”.
“After analysing Cosatu and given the period we’re in now, and the fact we’re in a renewal period and the challenges we’ve faced, we concluded that Zingiswa [Losi] fits with the kind of leadership we need to take us where we want to go.
“She’s been with us in the labour movement and is second deputy president.
“She’s demonstrated all her abilities including the fact she’s in the National Working Committee of the ANC. It says a lot and we can’t miss an opportunity to recognise her magnificent capacity,” Saphetha said.
NUM general secretary David Sipunzi said even though they had not submitted names yet the union was very excited at the prospect of Cosatu having its first female president.
“If Losi becomes president, it’ll be the first time in the history of Cosatu that we have a candidate who is a woman and duly qualified, and we are fully behind Zingiswa Losi,” Sipunzi said.
Sipunzi said NUM hoped for a situation where Dlamini did not contest, adding however that the union was clear on who its candidate is.
Losi, a civilian secretariat for the police, is a trained soldier and former shop steward at the Ford Motor Company. the
We concluded that Zingiswa [Losi] fits with the kind of leadership we need to take us where we want to go