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Cape Town - The prime thrust of Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini’s opening speech at the delayed Cosatu special congress on Tuesday was about the unity of the ANC-led alliance.
He maintained that metalworkers’ union Numsa was attacking both the federation and the alliance.
Dlamini said the special congress had been convened to “strengthen the alliance”. And he referred to “those unions who call themselves Numsa allies, to set themselves free” from the”embrace” of Numsa. “Don’t be a slave to another union,” he declared to loud applause from the majority of the delegates.
However, the special congress was called for by nine unions, including Numsa, who wished to discuss the expulsion by the executive of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and the threats to the unity and cohesion of the federation. These focused on claims that the present leadership of Cosatu was not adhering to the more radical decisions taken at the last national congress.
But Dlamini maintained that Numsa now considered itself “bigger than Cosatu” and had to be expelled for recruiting outside of its sector. This, he said was against the constitution of the federation. However, there is no constitutional provision for this it is a policy that has been observed in the breach ever since the formation of Cosatu.
When Dlamini’s speech ended with a call on all delegates to “defend the alliance led by the ANC, SACP and Sanco”, it was met with cheers from most of the audience and boos from about 20% of delegates.
