WE LIVE an ongoing satire in South Africa, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. He points out that if an article written even a year or two ago had outlined the details of the present debacle in Eskom, it would have been regarded as too “over the top”.
He maintains that reality now seems to supersede even the wildest imagination, and has an impact on the labour movement as well as the rest of society. The latest Cosatu Central Committee Meeting epitomised the confusion that reigns.
How, Bell asks, can it be explained that a professed socialist trade union movement can endorse one of the country’s leading capitalists as the next president? Why, in any event, should it be involved in a party political succession battle?
The National Democratic Revolution programme condemned as neo-liberal by Cosatu is also hailed as a road to some undefined socialism. Yet, Bell points out, that was the meaning of the slogan for the CEC meeting.
However, it is not only Cosatu that is bedevilled by politics. The proclaimed non-party political National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) faces a move in its congress next month to dump the general secretary, Narious Moloto. This because Moloto also doubles up as the secretary general of the Pan Africanist Congress.
Another looming problem concerns the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) a federation brought largely into being by the National Union of Metalworkers that was expelled from Cosatu. Saftu is about to apply for membership as a labour representative at the tripartite National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) where Cosatu, Fedusa and Nactu represent labour.
For Saftu to gain a seat, its application requires the support of the three existing representatives which Bell thinks is unlikely to be forthcoming. Yet, at the same time, all four federations profess to support worker unity.
According to Bell, this once again seems to mirror the political arena where declared principle and practice are all too often poles apart.
* Add your voice or just drop Terry a labour question. Follow Terry on twitter @telbelsa.