S’THEMBISO MSOMI & KGOTHATSO MADISA | Cosatu: a house divided - TimesLIVE

They were three hours behind schedule, but at least the hall was now almost full. As is standard procedure at such gatherings, attendees kicked off by singing the full version of Nkosi sikelel’i Afrika — sans Die Stem.

Then followed The Internationale, the global socialist anthem. But the hall really came to life when the late great diva Sibongile Khumalo’s rendition of Solidarity Forever — the world trade union movement’s signature tune — was played.

Delegates from across 16 Cosatu affiliates, as well as invited guests, held each other’s hands, swinging their arms up and down in unison, while they sang their lungs out: Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.

An impressive demonstration of unity.

But almost immediately, the façade collapsed. The first indication of cracks emerged when Duncan Luvuno, Cosatu’s second deputy president, allowed the singing to continue while the secretariat prepared to present a delegates’ registration report.

But when the crowd segued into Oh Tambo, kuyaliwa la (Oh, Oliver Tambo, there is infighting here), Luvuno protested: “There is no fighting here.” He stopped the song and ordered that only “unifying” lyrics should be allowed.

It was too late. A National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) delegate took the floor to ask about the status of Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange, who had been suspended by his home union, the National Education Health & Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), just two days earlier.

The NUM and several other unions had nominated Shingange to take over from the incumbent, Zingiswa Losi, as Cosatu president. Shingange’s suspension, the NUM and its allied unions allege, was an attempt by Nehawu to block this. In protest, the NUM delegate said, these unions were not going to submit their official list of delegates — meaning the congress would not quorate.

A heated debate ensued, pitting one Cosatu affiliate against the other. At one stage a delegate pointed to the front table, where the federation’s leaders sat, and said: “We are even prepared to leave you with your congress … We are not going to allow this congress to continue. We are not going to be like Boxer in the book Animal Farm, accompanied to a slaughterhouse … There will be no congress today.”

The war of words went on more than two hours, until someone suggested they break for lunch while the federation’s central executive committee (CEC) sought a solution. “Let’s go and eat, comrades, we will think differently,” this delegate suggested just before 2pm. Four hours later, the CEC was still locked in discussion and delegates were told to come back the next day.

Day two began with almost three hours of nonstop singing as delegates waited for official feedback from the CEC meeting that had gone on until just after 2am.

If a deal had been struck, this was not apparent in the songs. Uyabona Tambo, bathengisa ngathi (Do you see them, Tambo, they are selling us out), NUM delegates sang, a song reputed to hark back to a guerrilla mutiny at an ANC camp in Angola in the 1980s.

Another group sang Ha re bua nnete ba re shupa kamenwana, hare bua maaka ba re tshepisa chelate, nsune, nsune ka tsamaya (When we tell the truth, they point fingers at us; when we lie, they promise us money, kiss me goodbye because I’m leaving).

When the meeting finally resumed, Cosatu general secretary Solly Phetoe told delegates that a legal opinion had been sought, according to which Shingange was eligible to stand for election as Cosatu president despite his suspension by Nehawu. Nehawu itself told delegates that it had no problem with him running for a Cosatu position.

But the NUM and like-minded unions were suspicious of this apparent change of heart on the part of Nehawu, the federation’s largest affiliate. They still refused to submit their credentials, arguing that the congress should be postponed since it had failed to adopt credentials within three hours of commencing on the first day as required by the Cosatu constitution.

The congress was split down the middle, with Nehawu, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), Popcru and a couple of others arguing that the congress should continue.

Perhaps recognising that the four-day congress, which had cost Cosatu about R12m to convene, was about to collapse, a dejected Sadtu leader remarked: “It looks like we are preparing an obituary [for Cosatu] here.”

A delegate from the South African Commercial Catering & Allied Workers Union, echoing the sentiment, pointed out that the 1.8-million workers represented at the gathering were facing serious socioeconomic and political problems.

“We are being retrenched and restructured. Cosatu is our last hope,” he said, appealing for order. But no-one was listening. The two factions broke into song, leading to an unplanned adjournment.

For a second day in a row, delegates broke for lunch without the official business of the congress having begun. The sticking point was now whether the congress could lawfully continue even though the three-hour deadline for credentials to be adopted had long passed.

Another marathon CEC meeting was convened. But the writing was on the wall. The congress of the country’s largest and most influential labour federation had collapsed. Cosatu leaders confirmed this later that evening, announcing that the congress would be reconvened within 30 days, as per the federation’s constitution.

Behind this unprecedented implosion of the 41-year-old labour grouping is a leadership struggle that could have implications for the ANC-led tripartite alliance.

Affiliates went to the aborted congress split between two leadership slates. The major public sector unions Nehawu, Sadtu and Popcru, along with the South African Clothing & Textile Workers Union, back Losi as the new general secretary, with Sadtu’s Mabutho Cele replacing her as president.

The NUM, on the other hand, leads a group of seven unions, including the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa, the finance union Sasbo and the South African Municipal Workers Union. This group wants Shingange as the new president, Luvuno as first deputy and Phetoe to stay on as general secretary.

This is what the discord is about — a fight for control between Losi and Shingange.

Much of the reporting on the failed congress has focused on Shingange’s ties with the SACP, in which he serves as a central committee member. But this does not explain much about his differences with Losi, who was also elected to the SACP central committee in 2022.

Shingange’s public stance supporting the SACP as a go-it-alone party in the upcoming local elections is in line with Nehawu’s own position, and therefore does not explain why the union wanted to prevent him from standing for the Cosatu presidency.

In fact, the unions supporting his presidency had sponsored a moderate resolution for consideration at the Cosatu congress that would leave the choice of whether to vote for the ANC or the SCAP up to individual members. “The federation must avoid allowing political formations to divide Cosatu and weaken workplace organisation,” reads the proposed resolution drafted by the NUM, Sadtu and several other unions.

Nehawu, on the other hand, sponsored a resolution calling for “a complementary campaign programme to mobilise workers behind the banner of the SACP”. This was despite its support for Losi, who is criticised by other unions as being “too close” to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

But if it is not the ANC vs SACP election issue that is dividing the two factions, what is it?

At Nehawu level, says a unionist who did not want to be quoted, it boils down to a breakdown in the relationship between Shingange, a previous president of the union, and its current leadership. This falling out means the current leadership is reluctant to support his ascendency to the Cosatu post.

At Cosatu level, Shingange and others are said to believe that since Losi has served two terms as president, it is time for her to leave the federation.

However, she has opted to run for the more administrative and yet strategic post of general secretary — in which role she would direct the federation on a day-to-day basis as its full-time employee.

But unions who see her proximity to the Ramaphosa establishment as a problem say this would weaken Cosatu even further at a time when many of its affiliates, especially the NUM, are unhappy about the president’s push for Eskom’s unbundling. They argue this will lead to higher electricity tariffs and retrenchments for union members.

Late on Tuesday, as delegates prepared to leave Gallagher Estate in Midrand for home, the labour court set aside Shingange’s suspension — so there will be no cloud hanging over him if and when the Cosatu congress reconvenes.

But will one of the factions find yet another reason to stall the proceedings? The stakes are clearly too high, and nobody wants to be on the losing side.