Zwelinzima Vavi's address to the SACTWU National Bargaining conference, Durban, March 6 2010

National Office Bearers of SACTWU

Comrades and Friends

It is always an honour to be invited to speak to the Clothing and Textile Workers, one of the pillars of our revolutionary trade union movement for many decades. You proved yet again last year, in your heroic strike against the attempt to cut your wages, that you are among the most militant and determined sections of our membership.

I am sure you are continuing to maintain these traditions in your deliberations this week.

I must begin by paying tribute to two of your former leaders. We are even now struggling to come to terms with the tragic loss of Violet Seboni, a great heroine of the trade union and liberation movement. She devoted her entire life to advancing the interests of her fellow workers, and even lost her life while out campaigning for an ANC election victory. There will never be another Violet, and I hope that her example is helping you as you confront the many challenges your union faces.

Ebrahim Patel is still very much with us, even though deployed in government, where he is starting to make a significant impact. His first major address in Parliament yesterday, when as Minister of Economic Development, he introduced his Medium Term Strategic Plan, was a landmark speech.

It showed that he is determined to use his office to take forward the developmental policies of the Polokwane resolutions and the ANC Election manifesto. His Plan charts the way ahead on to a new economic growth path that will create jobs and prosperity.

EP's years of service to your union, and his deep understanding of the problems the workers face, are undoubtedly helping him to stand firm on his principles and not be led astray by technocratic advisors who would like him to water down those principles.

2010 will be a historic year for South Africa, when we host the FIFA Soccer World Cup, the biggest soccer spectacle in the world. But it is also a year in which we face massive political and socio-economic challenges.

The financial crisis that developed into a full-blown economic recession continues to ravage our country and the world, and the workers, including clothing, leather and textile workers, are the biggest victims.

In the last nine months we lost 959 000 jobs, a new record, and workers lost a staggering R17 billion, further widening inequality. Unemployment rose from 23.6% to 24.5%. By the expanded definition that includes workers who have given up looking for work, unemployment rose from 32.5 to 34.4%.

In the last quarter of 2009 indicate the situation improved slightly, with 89 000 new jobs being created, but mainly in the informal sector, where millions are involved in survivalist activities.

In the past 16 years, under the leadership of the ANC, we have made tremendous progress in achieving the goals of the national democratic revolution. But in economic terms the main benefits of economic transformation accrued more to white monopoly capital than to workers.

The apartheid political economy fault lines remain largely in place. Despite progress in extending social grants, poverty continues to afflict millions and South Africa has now surpassed Brazil in terms of inequality.

Poverty, like unemployment continues to have racial, gender and age dimensions. Apartheid inequalities remain, as whites remain better off than Indians, Indians better off than Coloureds and Coloureds better off than Africans. To add salt to the injury, inequalities are now growing within every racial group.

Super exploitation and oppression of workers remains widespread. We have a two-tier labour market system already, in which, broadly, the workers covered by the collective bargaining system through workplace, sectoral and industry wide bargaining councils are relatively better off, with better job security, pay and working conditions and are generally protected by the labour laws.

But there is a second layer, spread across all sectors of the economy, including your own, who are not unionised, not covered by bargaining councils, not protected by the labour laws and who face the brutality of labour brokers, merchandisers, farm and domestic employers.

Unions and government have largely failed to protect this category of workers. Despite fine resolutions to organise them they remain outside the unions and government has not developed the capacity to protect them.

Government's threat to introduce a wage subsidy to incentivise employers to employ young people will mean the creation of a third category of the super-super exploited workers.

Comrades

We warmly welcome the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 (IPAP2) released by the government's economic cluster, and Comrade Patel's Strategic Plan. These will go a long way to address the apartheid political economy fault lines and hopefully break the backbone of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

But we warn that for industrial policies to succeed they must be supported by appropriate macroeconomic policies, which remain heavily contested.

Alliance Summits, and the Alliance Economic Summit's resolutions, have gone a long way to close policy gaps, but, to our frustration and anger, government continues with a tendency inherited from the previous administration to ignore policy directives it does not like and only implement those areas that the markets/capital are happy with.

The Alliance Summit resolutions must form the basis of government policy. The November 2009 Summit's commission on socio-economic policy agreed that we are in a serious crisis and, as such, we need to act with appropriate urgency and decisiveness in implementing the response and restructuring the economy.

Important elements of the Commission's broad agreement have not been taken forward by the government. We cannot continue going to meetings, argue our case and win the day by convincing the majority, only for those decisions to be undermined and sidestepped by bureaucrats in the Treasury and by government leaders.

We have decided to revive the COSATU campaign against unemployment and poverty we launched in 1999 and will immediately:

1. Convene a meeting of the three union federations, in line with the resolutions of the recent Nedlac labour conference, to work together more systematically to unite all workers' organisations and change the apartheid political economy fault lines. We hope we will convene a broad workers' summit during 2010.

2. Call for a meeting with the ANC leadership to discuss in particular our rejection of the wage subsidy policy for youth employment. We shall take the opportunity to explain why we reacted angrily to the budget speech policy framework, which undermined the spirit of the Alliance Summits.

3. In March and April we will convene COSATU Provincial Shop Stewards Councils and workplace meetings to canvas support for rolling mass action. The CEC have instructed the COSATU NOBs to instruct our lawyers to submit a Section 77 notice to cover our demands for:

a) A total ban on labour broking, and implementation of other measures to protect vulnerable workers such as farm workers and workers employed in small/medium enterprises who are facing the brunt of super-super exploitation

b) Withdrawal of the wage subsidy policy contained in the speech of the Finance Minister that will further restructure working class and open young people to super exploitation

c) Macroeconomic policy that supports and not undermines a new growth path and industrial policy.

Once again COSATU is proving that it is not just being critical but offering no alternative policy. We were the first institution to table industrial policy document whose many elements have now been taken forward by the IPAP2. We will be the first institution to release proposals for a new growth path.

We totally reject Eskom's 25% a year tariff increases and are questioning the role of NERSA, which has blatantly ignored the overwhelming opposition to the increases expressed by the public at their hearings.

We remain opposed to privatisation of power generating capacity and completely reject the introduction of IPPs into the sector. Privatisation is not an answer or panacea to societal problems. It will increase and not decrease the prices, it will sideline those who want access to electricity and will make the current price increases look like a Sunday school picnic.

To the best of our recollection there is no ANC policy calling for the introduction of private investors in power generation. Where and when was this decision taken? To us this, together with the policy on wages subsidies for the youth, is an example of how conservative and pro-business bureaucrats manipulate and sidestep democratic processes.

We shall immediately submit a new Section 77 Notice, or possibly use the existing and previous one which was never resolved, and if the tariff policy is not changed, to embark on strike action and street protests against increases which will devastate poor consumers, push up inflation and lead, according to the estimate of the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to 250 000 more jobs being lost. A good proportion of these will be in the clothing, textile and leather industries.

Comrades

The 2009 ANC election manifesto identified the key challenges and priorities we face - jobs, education, health, rural development/food security/agrarian reforms and crime and corruption. But we are concerned that in addition to the apartheid political and economic fault lines, our society is falling behind important aspects of development that should be cornerstones of our new society.

Education is the foundation on which all nations have liberated themselves. Whilst we have made tremendous progress on many areas such as improving infrastructure, delivery of books, enrolment of children, improving access by opening more no-fee schools, etc. we have not transformed the education system in both quality and quantity.

Inequalities stubbornly remain in place. The poor's children remain trapped in inferior education with wholly inadequate infrastructure. 70% of our schools do not have libraries and 60% do not have laboratories. 60% of children are pushed out of the schooling system before they reach grade 12.

Of the 1 550 790 South African children who started school in 1998, only 551 940 of them registered for the matric class. That is a drop-out rate of 64%. Of these 551 940 who wrote matric exams, only 334 609 (60.6%) passed matric and just 109 697 achieved university entrance.

That means that 1 216 181 of the original 1998 intake are left with no qualifications and, given the current rate of unemployment, no jobs, no hope and no future. No wonder 75% of all the unemployed are made up of those who are below the age of 35 years. No wonder why there is so much crime and other social ills such collapse of family values, HIV/AIDS, etc.

The children of the rich are in private schools. The children of the middle class, now joined by a minority of blacks are in the former Model C schools. Both private and former Model C schools are in varying degrees better than the schools the working class's kids attend.

We warmly welcomed the selfless, heroic and revolutionary stance adopted by the SADTU leadership in its battle, sometimes with its own structures and members, to save generations of working class children from this unfolding tragedy. Recently SADTU sought not only to lead itself and other teacher unions but the society as well. We welcomed the statement of recommitment by SADTU, NAPTOSA and SAOU.

We will also campaign to ensure that parents appreciate the critical role they can play in turning this situation around and we call on your members to stand for positions in the School Governing Bodies and help to foster a climate of respect for education, schools and educators.

Health is another priority area. Only a healthy nation can be productive. Health is a critical measurement on whether progress to develop a nation is being registered. Our health system is in crisis. Out health status, measured by the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals indicators, is deteriorating. Maternal mortality has increased from 230 mothers per 100,000 dying in 2000 to 400 in 2005, with latest estimates of 575-623 deaths. The MDG target is 38. South Africa stands out internationally for the extent of the deterioration since 2000 when the MDGs were introduced.

Much of this deterioration is as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, with 1,000 AIDs-related deaths per day in South Africa (and another 1,450 people becoming HIV infected each day). South Africa's death statistics, with the young and working age dying in droves, resembles a country in a terrible war.

At least 70% of the caseload in the public health system is now taken up by HIV/AIDS cases, crowding out the capacity to treat other medical conditions. Moreover, while we seem unable to treat more than half the 800,000 needing anti-retroviral treatment, that number is going to rise to 5,5 million within five years (these are people already HIV infected who will reach full-blown AIDS).

Again, just as with everything else, this crisis discriminates according to race, gender and class. It is black people and the working class that face humiliation in dysfunctional public institutions whilst the rich and the middle class enjoy better resourced and health care in the private hospitals.

We have adopted the government's ten-point plan and committed ourselves to play our role in ensuring we overcome this daunting health challenge. Our 2010 programme refocuses our movement to fight the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

The National Health Insurance scheme that is still to be introduced will go a long way in insuring that we transform health for the benefit of the majority. So far government has heroically defended the logic of the NHI against a systematic and well-orchestrated campaign of the right wing.

We are however extremely concerned though that the government is giving in to capitalist pressures by introducing Public-Private Partnerships which will lead to privatisation of the health services through the backdoor.

Comrades

Another priority is crime, which afflicts the working class more than the capitalist class and the middle strata. Workers employed by labour brokers in restaurants and in shopping complexes tell frightening tales of robbery and rape they have to contend with daily when they knock off close to midnight without access to a safe, reliable and affordable transport system.

House breaking, petty crimes such as pick pocketing in the trains and taxis, rape and theft, are daily experiences of workers.

Our mass campaign against crime has not started despite the ANC supporting the campaign strongly. The promised street committees must be set up urgently to tackle this massive problem. We will work with the police stations to establish community safety forums and ensure that our campaign never degenerates into vigilantism.

At the same time our campaign against corruption and the culture of self-enrichment must be stepped up. The people of South Africa clearly share our deep concern that corruption, particularly the abuse of public office for private enrichment, is a cancer that is threatening the foundations of our democracy. It must be fought wherever it occurs, in the public and private sectors.

The large majority of public representatives and senior officials are honest and dedicated servants of the public and not involved in any form of corrupt activities. But for as long as a minority can get away with fraudulent activities, it will undermine public confidence in all officials and the whole democratic system.

Some of the violent service delivery protests that have spread through some of our poorest communities have been triggered by the belief that the people's representatives have deserted the masses. This is why COSATU and its partners have to become more involved in these community campaigns

The ANC's 2004 manifesto committed government to "ensure efficient functioning of all anti-corruption structures and systems including whistle-blowing, blacklisting of corrupt companies, implementation of laws to ensure exposure of, and action against, private sector corruption, and quicker processes to deal with any corrupt civil servants and public officials".

It is not good enough for ministers and public officials to hide behind the argument that they have ‘declared an interest' in the companies they and their families own. The fact that they are in business to make money creates an inevitable conflict of interest when they are legislating in parliament, a provincial legislature or municipal council.

Public representatives must be forced to choose whether they are servants of the public or in business to make profits. They cannot be both at the same time. The succession of corruption scandals and the spread of the capitalist culture of greed and self-enrichment are threatening to unravel the fabric of society and undermine all the great progress we have made.

This has never been just a problem in the public sector. The source of corruption is the very system of personal accumulation of wealth - the capitalist system itself, which also corrupts and tempts public representatives.

A culture has taken root in our society which has led to the obscene levels of salaries, bonuses and perks for top executives particularly in the private sector.

A particular problem has been one we call ‘throwing the javelin', where politicians, public servants and unionists feather their nests while still in public service, by creating future business opportunities. They then leave the service to work in the same sector in a private company and profit from the opportunities they themselves had created as public servants.

COSATU is demanding at the very least a five-year cooling off period after public servants leave public office before they can take any such position in the private sector.

We are encouraged by overwhelming support for our call for a ‘lifestyle audit' of senior public officials, to assist in the fight against corruption. We now want the audits to be conducted not only on the national government but to all provincial legislatures and local government.

This call does not in any way suggest that all cabinet ministers and senior government officials are suspects. It is not intended to feed into racial stereotypes that all wealthy blacks should be investigated or undermining their right to be rich like their white counterparts. The call is directed to all cabinet ministers and senior public officials whether they are black or white.

Suggestions have been made that COSATU's motives for raising the issue is part of a campaign to target political opponents. This is untrue. The fight against corruption has to target culprits regardless of their political affiliations or ideologies.

Comrades

COSATUs remain firmly committed as ever to the Alliance, which remains relevant and a weapon we should use to effect fundamental transformation of our society. However, there is a small right-wing tendency led by materialists and tenderpreneurs within the ANC leadership working hard to take us back to the pre-Polokwane days and to the politics of labelling, name calling, back-stabbing, rumour and scandal mongering, marginalisation and closure of space for free and democratic debates.

The mainstream leaders of the ANC, who form the majority on the NEC, have not joined in the campaign. But there are worrying signs that the new tendency may have succeeded to at least muting most ANC leaders.

We have decided to launch a campaign to defend the legacy of the ANC, which is currently threatened by this small band of materialists hell-bent on using their positions to enrich itself and turn our state into a predator state.

Accordingly we are launching a national campaign to swell the ranks of the ANC and SACP and defend our gains in particular at the policy level. We seek to recruit at least a quarter of our current 2 million members to be active in the ANC and the SACP. Each affiliate is to develop a practical campaign to first recruit workers into COSATU and to the ANC and the SACP based on quotas informed by the size of each affiliate in each province.

We shall launch a political education campaign to ensure that only the most political and class conscious of our members participate in the ANC and the SACP. In this regard we recall the policy of the federation that all unions should spend at least 10% of their income on education and training.

We shall be convening major bilateral with the SACP and ANC Youth League to finalise our discussions on our common approach to taking forward all the demands of the Freedom Charter, to develop a joint programme of action covering areas of mutual interest, and to finalise the discussions on lifestyle audits.

We shall steadfastly defend all the leaders of the ANC in particular the President and the Secretary General who are currently the focus of systematic attack from the group referred to above. This small impatient group is not even prepared for wait for the normal process of nomination and may move a vote of no confidence in the forthcoming ANC National General Council. Their action may only plunge the ANC into unprecedented crisis, which may destroy its unity and cohesion forever - something they don't care a damn about.

I am sure you will share our disgust at the racist and bigoted attacks on President Jacob in the British tabloid media. They are an attack not on just one individual but on every South African.

We reaffirm our full support for the President - who was democratically elected as President of both the ANC and the country - and condemns the British media and any people in South Africa who seek to get rid of the people's choice in pursuit of their right-wing agendas.

Issued by SACTWU, March 6 2010

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