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Cosatu lays bare its divisions

THERE has never been unanimity within Cosatu about important policy decisions, but last week's mini congress, known as a central committee meeting, laid bare the differences more than ever before.

And after last week's meeting - which was basically a medium-term review of the state of affairs in Cosatu - it appears that these differences could result in Cosatu siding with the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) on nationalisation.

It would be too much to ask for an organisation comprising 21 unions with totally divergent interests to agree on everything. But in recent years a deep-seated difference has gradually begun to crystallise between the public service unions and the rest.

Moreover, it appears that the two founding trade unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) and the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), have come off worst in the process. If the members of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) are added to these, at least half of Cosatu's two million members are in the public service.

This becomes more complicated in that by September next year, when Cosatu's full-scale congress is to be held, its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi will apparently leave the union to take up a position elsewhere.

Cosatu's executive committee has forbidden Vavi to say anything about his stepping down, because it fears this would lead to a divisive succession debate.

But the truth is that the succession debate is already under way. The most obvious candidate doing his best to draw attention to himself and garner support is Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.

A struggle traditionally exists between Numsa and Num. Numsa, which on Monday started a strike in the fragile steel and engineering industry, also has a tradition of perverse militancy which has badly confounded Cosatu's internal politics. In short: one never knows what Numsa will do next.

In Numsa leadership is also a volatile business. Jim is the first general secretary of this union to succeed in putting his heavy imprint on the union since Enoch Godongwana, who is today Deputy Minister of Economic Development, retired as general secretary in 1999 to become MEC for finance in the Eastern Cape.

In 2007 Jim unseated former Numsa general secretary Silumko Nondwangu in a palace revolution, because Nondwangu supported former president Thabo Mbeki in his leadership struggle with President Jacob Zuma.

He has recently become an even more outspoken supporter of the nationalisation of mines and other strategic sectors.

Num general secretary Frans Baleni is the exact opposite of Jim - a calm, level-headed union leader. Not only is Num slightly larger than Numsa, it is also a much more mature union with a more stable membership corps and a better established support structure.

To date Baleni has given no indication of any interest whatsoever in becoming Cosatu's general secretary. And some people do not believe that he should move over to that position. It is also clear that Num does not agree with the nationalisation views expressed at last week's Midrand conference.

If Numsa wants to nationalise, it should rather nationalise companies like ArcelorMittal SA [JSE:ACL] and Dorbyl - and leave Num to decide on the mines, said a Num provincial leader last week.

At last week's congress, Num tried to keep the discussion going about public service rules on strikes and the disruption current strike arrangements have caused the general population, especially in health services and education.

Jim cut this debate short. "Numsa is the last trade union to criticise the public service unions about striking," he said.

With these words he was naturally trying to win the support of the public service unions. This does not imply that Jim is Vavi's obvious successor. In several circles there is some amusement about Jim's over-eagerness for what he regards as promotion.

Balance of power between state and unions

In the public service unions, National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) general secretary Fikile (Slovo) Majola is the most senior and experienced.

He and Thulas Nxesi - the former general secretary of the teachers' union Sadtu and today Deputy Minister of Land Affairs and Rural Development - were important architects of Mbeki's defeat in Polokwane.

Majola has been general secretary of Nehawu since 1997 and is idolised by his union members. He is at least as strong a candidate as Jim for the Cosatu top position, without having to jostle for it in any way.

Last week the public service unions - including Majola's Nehawu - together with Jim cast their lot with the ANCYL in the nationalisation debate.

But Jim bought himself many votes with pronouncements against the diagnostic report from Trevor Manuel's national planning commission.

Manuel's report had been scathing about high wages, low productivity, continuous "transformation" and even mindless affirmative action in the public service.

If there is a single testimony against nationalisation from the ranks of government, it is those portions of Manuel's report dealing with the public service.

This is also the clearest evidence of the balance of power between public service unions and the state as employer being slanted in the unions' favour.

Pravin Gordhan's budget this year also showed signs of this, but in coming years the budget will be increasingly burdened by public service staff expenditure against a background of ever poorer service delivery.

At this stage it appears, though, that Cosatu will range itself on the side of nationalisation in a debate that will rage in the governing alliance over the coming 18 months.

Not because nationalisation makes any sense, but because it has become a tool for realising political ambition. 

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