COSATU'S hypocrisy is hurting South Africa

Note to editors: This is an extract of the speech that was delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP outside COSATU House, Braamfontein as part of the DA's Youth Wage Subsidy march.

The Democratic Alliance has marched to Cosatu's House today to express the widespread outrage across South Africa at Cosatu's double standards. 

The question on the lips of every South African is: ‘Who governs our country?'

At the moment, it would seem that when Zwelinzima Vavi asks President Jacob Zuma to jump, the president meekly asks: "how high?" And when President Zuma announces a bold new plan to tackle youth unemployment with a Youth Wage Subsidy, Cosatu says "no" and the plan disappears! Why is this?

Cosatu's hold on Mr Zuma is alarming. It began in 2007 when Cosatu used its muscle to remove President Thabo Mbeki from office. It will continue well into 2013 after Cosatu has used that same political lobbying muscle to crown the ANC President in Mangaung. That is why our President will dance to the tune of Zwelinzima Vavi.

Mr Vavi loves to talk about Cosatu as a champion of the poor; an organisation which is anti-corruption and pro-accountability. But let me show you an example of how Zwelinzima Vavi's hypocrisy and double-standards have played out in Parliament.

A number of weeks ago, Mr Vavi came to Parliament and, posing like a hero, announced that, if need be, Cosatu will go to court to fight the Protection of State Information Bill if its most damaging provisions are not removed. 

That's all very well and good.

But how many of Cosatu's MPs voted "yes" to the Secrecy Bill during the debate in the National Assembly last year? Today I can name and shame 35 Members of Parliament who we know are members of COSATU or its affiliated unions who fully supported the Bill.

Kgalema Motlanthe voted yes!
Mildred Oliphant voted yes!
Ebrahim Patel voted yes!
Lydia Chikunga voted yes!
Eric Kholwane voted yes!
Buti Manamela voted yes!
Joan-Marry Louise Fubbs voted yes!
Nathi Mthethwa voted yes!
Enoch Godongwana voted yes!
Thembelani Nxesi voted yes!
Dina Pule voted yes!
Maggie Sotyu voted yes!
Mohammed Surty voted yes!

And 22 more MPs that we know about (See list here).Will Zwelinzima Vavi take his deployed Cosatu MPs to court for supporting a Bill that criminalises whistle-blowing?

Will he instruct Cosatu MPs in the NCOP, like Chairperson Johannes Tau, to vote against the bill if key changes are not made? 

We ask Mr Vavi to explain to us now: if he was so opposed to the Secrecy Bill, why did he not instruct his members to vote against it?

I'm sure I know the answer to that question. The truth is that Mr Vavi doesn't really care about the needs of South African people. Making an empty spectacle is how he manages to have his cake and eat it.

And what a cake it is! Look at these massive R50 million headquarters! I wonder who paid for them. Which government tender, paid out of your taxes, was given to Cosatu's investment arm to pay for these fancy offices?

How much longer will Cosatu be allowed to play both sides of the political spectrum?

Cosatu exercises power without responsibility - which is a threat to our democracy and an affront to those who struggled for it.

Mr Vavi does not subscribe to any notion of collective responsibility. He cares only about grabbing headlines, amassing political power, and making a show of himself.

He blocks progress at every turn. He regularly says "no" to progressive government policy proposals in education, labour and economic reform no matter which political party they come from.

And as a result, in the eyes of South Africans and the world, President Zuma's government is in office, but it is not in power.

Over the past year, Mr Vavi has intensified his campaign to extend his influence not inside, but over, the governing party. Only in this campaign, no votes will be cast.

He is not running for executive office in the ANC - I imagine this is to polish the veneer of his "outsider" credentials in the eyes of Cosatu's members. But he is part and parcel of the rot at the heart of government. 

The rot in our education system has been entrenched by Cosatu's position on strikes and academic standards. Since 1994, every education minister, from the late Kadar Asmal to Naledi Pandor, has appealed to Cosatu and Sadtu to put children first.    

Education in South Africa is not only a constitutional right; it is the most important investment the state can make in the future of its citizens.

Can you imagine any other nation where a teachers' union would threaten to strike 53 000 teachers - as Sadtu did in the Eastern Cape - on the eve of final matric exams?       

Every other trade union in the world considers teachers to be ‘nation builders', but not Cosatu.

Why were the attempts of the Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, to introduce competency tests for teachers and performance contracts for principals, shot down by Sadtu without any support for the Minister from the Presidency? The answer is because Mr Zuma is frightened of Zwelinzima Vavi, and that's just how Mr Vavi likes it.

Then there is the economy. President Zuma allows his own Finance Minister, a noble public servant, to be roundly humiliated by Mr Vavi. The lack of leadership on the e-tolling issue and on labour broking is threatening South Africa's credit rating. Again, Mr Vavi is holding all the cards, and he is holding the government to ransom. And that is just how he wants it.

Since 1994, three Finance Ministers, including Trevor Manuel, have tried to reform the labour market to make it more productive and create more jobs. Cosatu always responded by calling for Mr Manuel's head.

How did Cosatu respond to Minister Pravin Gordhan's latest call for labour reform? It's leaders publicly asked the President to "give the minister a call to tell him to stop sending out these messages".  Cosatu will be demanding that Mr Gordhan be fired next.

The fact that one third of South Africa households report running out of money to buy sufficient food, and one out of five children say they are hungry, is a consequence of the selfish lobbying power of Cosatu.

So when Mr Vavi smugly says that labour broking is like human trafficking, he speaks with a forked tongue. He does not have to answer the unemployed for his words because he knows his supporters are all working already. What does he care if millions of South Africans are prevented from becoming workers too?

Mr Vavi is content to protect Cosatu's membership, fight for unreasonable wage demands, and to keep everyone else locked out.

Cosatu's elite climb the ladder of opportunity, only to knock it away for everyone else. Their attitude is "champagne and cigars for us", and "water and maize for them".  

If, for one moment, logic could penetrate Cosatu's cold self-interest, they would understand the tragic consequences of their actions.

If the right education and labour reforms had been enacted one decade ago, the need for a youth wage subsidy might never have arisen. 

So the big issue is: ‘who governs South Africa?' The Tripartite Alliance is held together only by cadre deployment and jobs for the well-connected. And, of course, it is animated by its position as kingmaker at Mangaung later this year. Cosatu is demanding its price and getting its payment upfront now.

The time has come for South Africans everywhere to demand one thing of Zwelinzima Vavi: decide what you want to be; player or referee? Government or opposition?

He cannot continue to oppose the government on Monday, only to eat generously from its table on Tuesday.

Thank you.

Issued by the Democratic Alliance, May 15 2012

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