More will follow Vavi

SOUTH Africans have for many years seen a split within the ANC-aligned trade union federation Cosatu as unthinkable.

But very few organisations have remained united forever and a historic split and the formation of a Cosatu rival now seem to be in the works.

This was set in motion by the Cosatu central executive committee's (CEC's) decision this week to fire its secretary general, Zwelinzima Vavi, after he had served the organisation for more than 15 years.

READ: Cosatu dismisses Vavi with immediate effect

This week Cosatu said it had fired Vavi for gross misconduct and for failure to perform his duties, including boycotting the CEC meetings.

Vavi had declined to grace two consecutive CEC gatherings in solidarity with unions that put off their participation in protest against the National of Metalworkers Union of South Africa's dismissal from Cosatu.

Cosatu also accused Vavi of making public announcements that brought the federation into disgrace and demoted it to being his own organisation.

Vavi was fired by a majority of members this week. Not long after his dismissal another high-profile Cosatu leader, national spokesperson Patrick Craven, resigned from the organisation.

READ: Craven quits Cosatu following Vavi's expulsion

Craven reportedly said that he quit because he thought Vavi's ejection was unjust.

"I could not defend the indefensible and I disagreed with the decisions," Business Day quoted Craven as having said.

Craven joined Cosatu in 2000 after he was appointed editor of Cosatu’s magazine The Shopsteward. He was appointed to the position of spokesperson in 2006.

He is the first well-known Cosatu operative to rebuff the federation in protest against Vavi's dismissal by a hostile group in the CEC associated with Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini.

I bet in the next few weeks South Africa will see several prominent defectors from Cosatu, all with faultless credentials.

Once this happens, these leaders are going to start a whirlwind tour of the length and breadth of the country, claiming to be the true Cosatu leaders that could put to an end government corruption and make the state more accountable. They will also promise to improve workers' conditions.

Before announcing the new name, I believe they will be holding conventions in South Africa’s major centres, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

When did the animosity within Cosatu leadership start?

Well, it all began with Vavi and his comrade, Numsa secretary general Irvin Jim, attacking the ANC-led government and accusing it of nasty things, including corruption.

Jim also accused the ruling party of failing to provide leadership since 1994 while South Africa’s working people continued to slip into poverty.

'Powerful, predatory elite'

Vavi criticised the emergence of a “powerful, corrupt, predatory elite combined with a conservative populist agenda to harness the ANC to advance their interests”.

He also hit out at President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet for not taking decisive action against corrupt ministers.

This did not go down well with the ANC faction within Cosatu.

Vavi had forgotten that as a member of the ANC, you do not criticise that organisation and its president and get away with it.

The Cosatu faction that fired Vavi and dismissed Numsa has a strong allegiance to Zuma and his comrades and they take exception to statements against Zuma.

But they are short-sighted, I must say.

I thought Dlamini and the ANC had learnt from the firing of Malema that when they axe prominent party members, they also lose millions of supporters.

Zuma should also not rejoice when his critics are pushed out of the party because this is going to have a lasting negative impact on his legacy as ANC president.

He will be accused of being the president that cost the party much support, in addition to making it unpopular.

I am sure that the ANC, which has depended on a united Cosatu's support in the past five general elections, will be a weakened party in the next elections.

Is the ANC leadership so arrogant that it cannot see this coming? I do not believe so. The ANC has very shrewd politicians who are aware of this.

But what is holding them back from talking? This is the question members of the ANC should be asking themselves.

*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.