Cosatu will campaign for both its alliance partners, but only if they protect workers’ interests.
Cosatu has pledged to campaign for both the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the upcoming local government elections, warning that its political support will not prevent it from confronting either party if workers’ interests are undermined.
SACP candidates will be contesting the local government polls on 4 November, independently of the ANC for the first time since 1994.
The position emerged from the federation’s 15th national congress, which was held from 12 to 14 October after its first attempt in September collapsed. In her first formal press statement as the newly elected general secretary, Zingiswa Losi said the congress reaffirmed Cosatu’s historic mission to organise and mobilise the working class, defend workers’ rights and advance a programme of democratic transformation towards socialism.
The federation’s decision to support both the ANC and SACP followed consultations among affiliates. Losi explained that the unions had adopted positions intended to influence the national congress, which ultimately passed what the leadership called a “super resolution” to support both parties.
The motion to back the SACP was championed by one of Cosatu’s largest affiliates, the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu). Losi defended Nehawu and the right of affiliates to consult their constituencies and bring their positions to the congress. She maintained that they had not acted improperly and that the decisive outcome was the congress’s collective resolution supporting both the ANC and SACP. Cosatu’s demands regarding local government, labour rights and public services would apply to both parties. she said.
Congress resolutions
The agenda of Cosatu’s congress involved discussions on the future of organised labour amid mass unemployment, poverty, inequality and rising living costs. The congress acknowledged the need to rebuild Cosatu’s organisational strength and reverse the trend of declining membership in parts of the private sector.
Cosatu’s declared priority is to rebuild workplace structures, organise un-unionised and precariously employed workers, strengthen collective bargaining and to improve accountability among affiliates.
One of the federation’s key proposals is a workers’ cost-of-living index to inform wage negotiations and government policy. Losi argued that economic progress should not be measured simply by declining inflation or headline growth, but by whether workers and their families could afford to live with dignity. “What it costs for workers to live must inform the bargaining strategy,” she said.
The proposed index would assess the weight of food, transport, electricity and healthcare costs on household budgets. Cosatu wants wage negotiations to take into account what money workers have left after meeting essential expenses, particularly when salary increases fail to keep pace with inflation.
The federation is also calling for an expanded basket of zero-rated goods, affordable basic services and the implementation of National Health Insurance to ease the cost of medical care.
Cosatu urged consumers and government to support locally produced goods, arguing that stronger domestic production can help protect manufacturing jobs. The federation maintains that economic growth must translate into employment and improved living standards rather than leave workers trapped in poverty.
Cosatu criticises the composition of GNU
While continuing to support the ANC, Cosatu still criticised the composition of the government of national unity, particularly the inclusion of the Democratic Alliance, citing differences over policies such as national health insurance and the national minimum wage. The federation argued that rebuilding the tri-partite alliance with the ANC and SACP must not require workers to accept policies that undermine their interests.
Newly elected president, Mike Shingange stressed that Cosatu’s electoral support was not unconditional. “It doesn’t mean when we campaign and vote for you, and you undermine the interests of the workers, that we’re not going to come for you. We will,” he said.
Shingange said Cosatu would not remain silent if either political partner failed to honour commitments to workers. He warned that their conduct in government could influence the federation’s future political support, although he did not specify what concrete political sanction would follow.
He said the federation would continue defending workers through collective bargaining, workplace representation, legal processes and public mobilisation.
en