Zwelinzima Vavi’s razor thin victory at the contentious South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) congress in Boksburg, Gauteng, on Thursday has cast doubt on his mandate to unite the warring factions, with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) likely to not give him an easy ride as he starts his second term at the helm of the fledgling federation.
Vavi was re-elected general secretary following days of conflict between him and Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.
Numsa and its allies failed to dethrone Vavi.
Even though cracks were visible to anyone in attendance throughout the congress, affiliated union leaders preached unity as the only way to save the federation and to further champion the struggles of the working class.
National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers Union (Nupsaw) general secretary, Solly Malema, warned the newly elected national office bearers, saying the rise and collapse of Saftu lay in their hands.
“We need a more united Saftu coming out of this congress. We are sending a strong message to the new leadership: lead the working class. We are not going to entertain divisions among yourselves,” said Malema.
His sentiments were also echoed by the general secretary of the Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union, Vusi Ntshangase, who said, “It will be impossible to achieve a united working class, if the national office bearers or us as affiliates are not united. The new leadership must know that the moment they get divided, there is no way the NEC will not be divided.”
Numsa is the biggest affiliate of Saftu – it had the greatest number of delegates at the congress and their bid was to unseat Vavi.
Other unions that boasted high numbers of delegates at the congress include the Food and Allied Workers’ Union, Nupsaw and the South African Police Union.
Saftu has been criticised also for being the cause of its own demise, partly due to its failure to deliver on the expectations that workers have had since the federation was launched five years ago. One of Saftu’s obvious shortcomings is that its membership has not outgrown Cosatu’s, and many unions expressed frustration over this failure on Thursday.
One of the challenges that was also debated was that most affiliates were still weak in terms of membership. Some affiliates told the national office bearers when debating the Saftu national executive committee (NEC) report that a federation-wide campaign to organise workers in both the public and private sectors is needed to grow the federation.
Saftu held its second national congress from May 23-26. The inaugural Saftu congress was held in April 2017, also in Boksburg.
Vavi got 389 votes, while Saftu KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Moses Mantsoe, who was also contesting the federation’s general secretary position, received 300 votes.
Ruth Ntlokotse trounced Saftu’s Mac Chavalala in the race for the position of president with 399 votes.
Thabo Matsose got 372 votes to get re-elected as the first deputy president.
Also, one of the suspended national office bearers, Motshwari Lecogo, was re-elected as national treasurer while Luzipho Nontembeko won the position of deputy general secretary with 357 votes over Phakedi Moleko.
After further discussion among the unions, it was agreed that the suspended national office bearers could challenge to be elected for another term.
The four who were suspended for bringing the union federation into disrepute are Chavalala, Matsose, Lecogo and former deputy general secretary, Moleko Phakedi. Their suspensions are pending until the next sitting of Saftu’s central committee.
Saftu was formed in April 2017, and it is the second labour federation Vavi leads. This followed the veteran trade unionist being sacked as secretary-general of Cosatu in 2015.
When it was launched, the federation boasted a membership of 700 000. However, its numbers have sharply declined, owing to divisions and ongoing infighting.
Then, Vavi described Saftu as a machine that was going to unite South African workers, and subsequently put an end to the fragmentation of unions.
The division
In March, a decision of the former Saftu national office bearers to place Vavi on suspension caused further division within the federation. Their decision was labelled “unconstitutional”.
Many alleged the attempted suspension was not just an attack on Vavi, but on the federation as well.
A source with intimate details of the federation, who spoke to Sunday World on condition of anonymity, said the actions of the suspended Saftu national office bearers were, in the first place, cruel politically.
“Our position was that this was not an innocent constitutional mistake. There was a well-calculated attempt, before the congress sat, to discredit the general secretary,” he said.
He alleged that it was questionable that all this happens before the Numsa congress next month. The source further charged that perhaps Vavi was being used as the perfect distraction from the recent media reports linking a Numsa-owned company to graft.
During the May Day celebrations in Tshwane at the Union Buildings earlier this month, Vavi told workers that the attempt to suspend him was cooked up by unions that wanted Saftu to be aligned to a political party.
On Thursday morning, Numsa congratulated the new Saftu leadership on their election for the new term.
“Numsa would like to congratulate the new leadership of Saftu. We also want to congratulate Numsa second deputy president comrade Ruth Ntlokotse for being elected president of Saftu. We wish the entire leadership all the best for the new term.”
The media also came under fire on Thursday, as certain unions alleged that the media were creating a narrative by reducing the congress to just a battle between Jim and Vavi.
However, Jim came in defence of the media. He said the federation’s bad image was of Saftu’s own making. Jim also came down hard on the report that was presented by the Saftu NEC.
“This report is basically attacking us as the movement, it is saying we are not recruiting and not campaigning. I believe it has gaps and needs to be questioned.”
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