By Norm Dixon
Delegates attending the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) sixth national congress, on September 16-19, have sharply criticised the economic policies of the African National Congress government and its failure to consult its rank and file and its allies in the trade union movement and the Communist Party. But COSATU remains firmly wedded to its alliance with South Africa's governing party, voting to strengthen the alliance rather than end it.
The congress, attended by 2300 delegates representing 1.7 million members, reserved the harshest criticism for the government's macro-economic program, GEAR — Growth, Employment and Redistribution.
The COSATU secretariat report, released before the congress by secretary-general Sam Shilowa, described GEAR as unworkable and making elimination of the legacy of apartheid increasingly less likely.
Fiscal discipline had replaced the social and developmental goals of the ANC's election platform, the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), the report said. "This has had a paralysing effect on policy and legislation aimed at transformation", while the conservative elements of GEAR are being implemented vigorously.
The report added that the introduction of GEAR in June 1996 by cabinet, two months before it was discussed by the structures of the ANC, followed the pattern of "certain ministers" treating the ANC-COSATU-SACP alliance "with contempt". Economic and housing policies were "driven by technocrats, the bureaucracy and ministries" not the rank and file.
Not only was it "doubtful" that COSATU was getting "value for money" from COSATU leaders elected to parliament on the ANC list in 1994, but some now "feel embarrassed in their association with us" and others had "become hopeless and their positions right-wing".
Despite these harsh criticisms, Shilowa, who is also a leading member of the SACP, said "the alliance remains the only vehicle capable of bringing about fundamental transformation of our country". The alliance must be rebuilt and strengthened.
While nine of COSATU's 19 affiliated unions submitted motions calling for the rejection of GEAR, none called for an end to the alliance, unlike previous congresses.
COSATU president John Gomomo told the congress, "We have failed to agree what the opportunities, possibilities, and constraints are in the current situation. This has led to unnecessary tensions within the alliance."
Gomomo attacked the remoteness of ANC parliamentarians. He was loudly applauded when he declared: "Our representatives at various levels of government and parliament who are ineffective should be subject to recall and replacement by those who are committed to serve selflessly the cause of the liberation struggle".
Gomomo's rejection of GEAR as the "reverse gear in our society" was greeted with loud applause and chants of "COSATU asifuni GEAR" (COSATU does not want GEAR). Gomomo pointed out that the most recent budget contained severe social spending cuts. "We would have had more money to spend were it not for this monster nicknamed GEAR.
Gomomo, also a senior leader of the SACP, said that COSATU was willing to cooperate with business in rebuilding the economy and country, "but not for its own sake. [Business] have to rethink their approach to the labour market and fiscal issues and commit themselves to engage positively to improve the lives of all South Africans."
He urged union members to "mobilise all communities to vote for a decisive ANC majority [in 1999]. We need to start campaigning now in the farms, factories, shops and mines and in our communities."
South African President Nelson Mandela was on the defensive when he addressed the congress. He conceded that the government's insistence that GEAR was "non-negotiable" was wrong. "Like any policy, it is not cast in stone. I confess even the ANC learned of GEAR far too late."
Mandela admitted that the government had "ignored those who put us in parliament. There is nothing more dangerous than that."
However, Mandela openly disagreed with Gomomo's assessment of GEAR. He said that GEAR was the decision of the entire cabinet, and he supported it fully.
On the last day, delegates overwhelmingly voted to reject GEAR. Congress stopped short of calling on the government to abandon GEAR after two unions agreed to withdraw resolutions the leadership considered too "confrontational".
There was concern among delegates that COSATU failed to spell out detailed socioeconomic policy after time ran out because debate on organisation proposals ran overtime. These issues will now be debated at a special COSATU policy conference in six months.
The organisational proposals, which flowed from the recommendations of a commission chaired by COSATU vice-president Connie September, provoked some of the most heated debate. While the commission report contained many of the same criticisms of the ANC's direction expressed at the congress, the core thrust was that COSATU should alter its political direction.
The September Commission advocates "social unionism", inspired by Swedish and German systems of "co-determination" (collaboration with government and business through tripartite structures to improve productivity and efficiency) and the Australian Accord, in contrast to the South African labour movement's traditional "militant abstentionism" (i.e. class struggle).
The restructuring proposed emphasised the centralisation of leadership: that COSATU's 19 affiliated unions abandon their traditional "one-industry, one-union" policy and instead amalgamate into six "superunions", and that COSATU's six national officers become full-time officials. At present, all but the general-secretary and assistant general-secretary are part time.
COSATU officials also sought greater powers to ensure that affiliates abide by COSATU policy as well as powers to intervene in affiliates' internal affairs.
Each proposal met considerable opposition from delegates who feared leaders would be less accountable, and that COSATU's tradition of worker control would be undermined by bureaucracy. All were eventually adopted.
This developing "social unionism"/"militant abstentionism" divide was also played out in the debate over globalisation.
A minority group of unions called on COSATU to reject entirely the concept of globalisation, with its calls for sacrifices in the name of "international competitiveness". The majority argued that globalisation was a "fait accompli" and COSATU should work to protect workers' rights in the global market.
The Business Day editorial on September 22 praised the latter group as reflecting leaderships with a "strength and confidence" that "can 'sell' the need for strategic decisions to the rank and file", whereas the former were "blinkered ideologues" who "slip into rhetoric and defensive behaviour".
The editorial openly expressed the hope that the advocates of "social unionism" would begin to prevail more decisively than they had at this year's congress.