COSATU Post May Day statement
3 May 2017
The Congress of South African Trade Unions salutes and congratulates the thousands of workers, who took time this past Monday to participate in this year’s COSATU May Day celebrations. We are more than happy with the overall turnout and participation by workers in our decentralized May Day activities all across the country. More than 180 thousand workers participated in COSATU May Day activities all across the country and they proved once again that the federation is alive and well and ready to lead from the front in the fight against monopoly capital.
This is quite laudable considering that this May Day also took place during a long weekend of a month end , where most migrant workers had left the big cities to visit their families. We pay homage to the victims of the Bethlehem bus crash, where 53 COSATU members perished on their way to QwaQwa, when their bus drove into a dam near Bethlehem, Free State on 1 May 2003. We will never forget those workers and May Day is a sad reminder of that tragedy.
We thank our affiliates for mobilising workers and providing transport for them, although we are still saddened that not all workers managed to get transportation to attend May Day celebrations. Many of our May Day events were characterized by discipline and a celebratory atmosphere. Even in provinces like Limpopo, KZN and Bloemfontein, where there were some disruptions, it needs to be pointed out that the major part of those celebrations, which consisted of workers marching and handing over memorandums containing their demands to the employers happened without any problems. In Bloemfontein the only part of the celebration that was cancelled was the last part , where the main May Day message and the accompanying solidarity messages were to be delivered. It is therefore not true and quite misleading for anyone to say that the national May Day event was completely cancelled in Bloemfontein.
Of course without a doubt, this was a regrettable and an unacceptable incident , and we shall be convening an urgent Special Central Committee {SCEC} meeting to deal with what happened ,and also decide on a way forward in preparation for the upcoming Central Committee meeting. We do regret that workers did not hear the federation’s message from COSATU President and that their event was hijacked and converted into a political theatre.
We remain clear on a mandate given to the federation by the historic Special National Congress that was held from the 13th – 14th July in 2015 , where workers stood up and unequivocally declared that they want a united COSATU, characterised by discipline within the federation and its affiliates.
They demanded a COSATU that is based on its constitution and founding principles of one Country – One Federation, One Union – One Industry, Paid Up Membership , Worker Control , worker Solidarity, non –racialism and Unity. The national leadership of the federation in dealing with the issue of the deployment of President Jacob Zuma to the May Day event in Bloemfontein acted within the ambit of the federation’s Constitution and also in respect of the mandate from the 2015 COSATU Special National Congress.
Workers unambiguously re- affirmed the character of COSATU as a militant and radical federation of trade unions, which is class oriented and also made it clear that COSATU is not a political party. We are committed to continue on the tasks given to us by the Special National Congress to build a COSATU, whose influence on society remains based on its organised power, its capacity to mobilise, its socio - economic programme and policies and its participation in political and social alliances.
We also remain committed to taking forward the directives given by the Special National Congress for us to build a COSATU that will remain committed to worker control and democracy, and that will maintain its independence; conscious of the dangers of being co-opted by employers and politicians.
The Special National Congress explicitly told us to remain conscious about striking a balance between the immediate concerns of the members to the need for stability and national development without subordinating each to the other.
We shall continue to ceaselessly work to build a federation that will remain occupied with broad social and political issues, as well as the immediate concerns of its members; a federation that strives to remain a social force for transformation and the home of all workers.
For us as workers, our organisation COSATU is everything because without this organisation we are lifeless. It is the only weapon we have at our disposal to confront our class enemies. We shall therefore strive to ensure that we always proceed from an understanding that building COSATU remains our first priority before everything else. We know that there is no battle we can win without a strong organisation, whose presence is visible and felt on the ground. While COSATU still commands the majority support among workers, we are still committed to serving the interests not just of our members but of all workers.
Some of what transpired on Monday reflects the deteriorating relations between alliance partners and the factionalised nature of Alliance politics lately. It also reflects the fact that workers have reached a dead end and are angry with the factionalised state of the ANC and the dearth of leadership in the movement. We noted with concern that some factional leaders in the ANC organised events to coincide with the COSATU May Day celebrations. There were also some crowds that were rented with the purpose to disrupt the national event in Bloemfontein. We condemn these reactionary acts of hooliganism and we shall raise this issue sharply, when we meet with our Alliance partners in the soon to be convened Alliance Political Council meeting.
It is regrettable that we have reached a stage, where organisational mass power is not used for purposes of asserting a people driven and a people centred development but is used to fight internal factional battles to get people elected to positions of power ,which allows for access to resources. Organisational mass power is not seen as a strategic element to drive the NDR but it get reduced to be used for patronage.
We have also noted the unfortunate and unhelpful statements attributed to some ANC comrades apportioning the blame for what happened on May Day, to COSATU’s decision to openly endorse Cde Cyril Ramaphosa as its candidate for the ANC presidency. We totally reject and denounce this flawed reasoning. Unfortunately these reproachful comments fail to deal with the eternal contradictions that exist in a political alliance like ours. COSATU finds it disappointing that instead of doing some introspection; some in the ANC have resorted to scapegoating, conventional wisdom and slogans to explain away these multifaceted and momentous political challenges.
It goes without saying that the ANC has dismally failed to provide decisive leadership on the issue of succession inside the organisation. While it is easy and almost fashionable for the ANC to chastise and blame COSATU for publicly pronouncing its support for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to take over from President Jacob Zuma; it is noticeable that the same ANC lacks the appetite to reprimand its own structures that are openly campaigning in support of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini -Zuma.
It is these double standards and factionalised reasoning that is testing the patience of the workers and ultimately eroding the discipline and the comradeship that has united the alliance for decades.
The workers are also tired of the ANC and its government’s failure to deal honestly and decisively with issues like e-tolls, labour brokers, unemployment and retrenchments. We have repeatedly made it clear to the ANC that workers are tired of remaining enslaved in waged labour, while our economy remains highly monopolised and foreign owned and also at the hands of a white minority. The ANC and its government have done little to transform the colonial and apartheid structure of the South African economy. They not decisively intervened to stem the unfolding de-industrialisation and ongoing job losses.
They continue to vacillate and have flatly refused to introduce capital controls to stem the tide of capital flight. Our calls for the implementation of the Alliance summit decision calling for the redrafting and fundamental overhaul of the core economic and labour chapter of the NDP has fallen on deaf ears. The same ANC led government completely refused to review and withdraw the Employment Incentive Tax Act.
Workers are currently being forced to plead, cajole and coerce the ANC government into implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI), which is not just an ANC policy but an ANC manifesto commitment.
We have repeatedly asked government to stop introducing Independent Power Producers {IPP’s} to the national grid and also stop Eskom from prematurely closing its five power stations because workers are losing their jobs, but no one is prepared to listen. We have also been requesting the convening of meetings like the Alliance Secretariat, Alliance Political Council and an Alliance summit to no avail.
The federation has also noted the baseless allegations and pedestrian analysis by some “independent commentators” regarding its active participation in politics. They say our unions are narrowly concerned only with political matters and have forgotten about workers. These are the same liberal commentators, economists and their like in the political fold who also argue that the federation is narrowly preoccupied with the interests and aspirations of the employed workers without regard for the unemployed. We will not allow this neoliberal tirade and false consciousness to succeed in its intention – which is to divide and rule the workers for ever, deepen exploitation and maximise profit at the expense of the working class as a whole, both employed and unemployed.
COSATU has a record of 31 years of firm, unbroken and uncompromising service to the workers. We remain at the forefront of workers’ struggles. Our record of struggle speaks for itself and we have never been neutral. We have never been on the side of the monopolies or with the transnational corporations. We have never been on the side of the bourgeoisie and imperialists. This federation has always remained on the side of the workers' struggles for basic rights and total emancipation both in our country and beyond our borders.
We remain of the firm view, that factory-based struggles cannot be divorced from politics. Even from a pure working class and economic position, it is completely wrong to limit workers to factory-based issues. Politics determines who holds state power; who makes the laws; who controls the police, the courts, the army and prisons. All these issues affect workers everyday and cannot be ignored. Without addressing these questions the factory gains made by workers will be in danger of being wiped out.
We have learned from our common, painful experiences that we can win battles on wage increases at the work-place level, only to have those eroded by increases in transport costs, municipal fee rates, increase in electricity tariffs, food, children’s educational fees, tax, erosion of pension funds through rising costs of living, etc. It is for these reasons that from the onset, COSATU decided to participate in the political sphere. We are unshaken members of the Alliance because all our struggles are political in nature.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 3 May 2017
