Cosatu affiliates are engaged in an unprecedented voting process to determine whether the trade union federation should support the SACP to contest against the ANC during the 2024 general elections.
The final day of the 14th Cosatu congress got off to a dramatic start as affiliates again debated the contentious matter of whether Cosatu supports the SACP to be on the ballot, a decision which will potentially collapse the historic tripartite alliance of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu.
The morning debate came after the general secretaries of affiliates agreed in a meeting on Wednesday that the issue should be deferred to a special conference in May to give other affiliates time and space to consult their members.
However, the membership of big affiliates including the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the National Union Mineworkers (NUM) turned down the proposition.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) and the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) led the charge against Cosatu cutting ties with the ANC.
As the impasse continued, the NUM national secretary for safety and health, Masibulele Naki, was the first to declare: “Let’s vote”.
Naki had over the days outlined the failures of the ANC administration and the alliance. “We are facing challenges both in the private sector and public,” he said.
Naki further sought to dispel the notion that it was the public sector unions that were angry with the government, following its reneging on the 2018 wage agreement.
The NUM supported the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and Nehawu, among others, on the move to back the SACP to contest the 2024 general elections.
However, Sadtu, Saccawu and Sactwu were among the affiliates that abstained from voting, saying they do not have the mandate from their members.
Sadtu deputy president Mabutho Cele said the teachers’ union agrees that at some point the SACP will have to lead the state, but noted that the time has not come. “We will not vote on the matter that we have not consulted our members on,” said Cele.
He was booed at times, forcing him to seek protection from the presiding officer, Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange.
By the time of publishing the story, the affiliates were voting on whether to support the SACP in 2024 or to finalise the matter at a special conference of Cosatu in May.
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