Public sector strike will further test the ANC’s alliance with Cosatu trade unions

The public sector strike which kicked off this week has been driven by a breakdown in negotiations — and relations — between the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the ANC over the 2022 wage increase.

However, the breakdown in relations between one of the largest affiliates of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and ANC ministers, including labour minister Thulas Nxesi, a former unionist himself, is not limited to the wage dispute.

Nehawu’s voice has been among the loudest of the Cosatu affiliates challenging the need for the continuation of their alliance with the governing party over its failure to act in their interests, a stance which will be hardened by the government’s intransigence over meeting their demand for a 10% wage increase.

Two Nehawu provincial leaders who spoke to the Mail & Guardian said the union’s members have raised questions around its continued alliance with the ANC. 

The provincial players said it was a matter of time before their members would “want out” of the alliance. 

In 2021, Nehawu was one of the biggest agitators against campaigning for the ANC. The union publicly announced that it would advocate for the South African Communist Party (SACP) to run for the elections independently. 

An Eastern Cape leader said the relationship between Nehwau and the ANC was just on paper. They said the relationship with its union federation Cosatu was also tenuous. 

“The general membership is also tired. You should see the messages that we exchange among ourselves. Are these the very same people we are going to vote for? It’s so disappointing that Thulas Nxesi comes from the ranks of the SACP but they are the very same people we perceive are attacking us,” the provincial player said. 

Another provincial leader from the Northern Cape said most members were questioning how the union is allied with the employer, the ANC. They said workers’ issues were being compromised by the alliance. 

“There is a soft type of an approach in tackling workers’ issues by our Cosatu leaders when dealing with the ANC. It has caused most of the workers to suffer. Most times the union now is used as a vehicle to push personal political interest. If we were not in alliance it would be clear that we are fighting for workers, period,” they said.

“Yes we have a relationship with the governing party, but I think it’s on the brink of collapse. Look at what Sadtu released yesterday. It shows that we are not united as unions, it shows you the context of this marriage.” 

Another leader said the alliance was seen by many union leaders as a vehicle to advance their own interests. There was “serious” discussion within the lower ranks about getting out of Cosatu but they added that there was equally serious opposition to it.

“It’s because some of the comrades see the alliance as a stepping ladder. I think it’s a question of time for Nehawu to leave the alliance because I think we have sober leaders,” they said. 

Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the ANC had deviated from the alliance’s  national democratic resolution (NDR). 

The Nehawu leader accused the ANC of catering to the bourgeoisie.

“[We have had to] fight very hard so that we have a role to play in shaping at the class level the hegemony of the working class as the centre of the NDR. That is why we took a decision that we will persuade the SACP to contest elections, so that is where we are.” 

Saphetha said members had not discussed leaving Cosatu at its last conference but conceded the frustration and despondency among its members. 

“We don’t see the leadership of the ANC taking leadership in terms of directing and also leading properly in the context of the articulation of the policy of the ANC at the state level. Actually, they are reversing all the achievements, not only of the workers, but the achievements of the liberation movement as a whole,” Saphetha said.

“It’s not a good feeling, but when opportunity is given to reassess, we will have to look into these issues in terms of who are our friends and who are our enemies and take a decision. But, as things stand, there is no decision that would suggest otherwise in terms of the historic way of relating and doing things, but there is that general feeling,” he said. 

Saphetha said the alliance was imploding and Cosatu’s internal politics were strained. 

“In the current form, we will continue to express misery, we will continue to be frustrated, we will continue to feel the pain. We are running out of patience; we don’t think that will change anytime soon. We must always associate ourselves with those who pity and carry our interest as a working class, and in this case, we have identified the communist party,” he said.

“That is why we are doing everything internally as Nehawu and internally as Cosatu and the society, to influence people to consider the communist party as [the] only vehicle amidst the current stagnation of the NDR, but also given the plight of the working class. We do think the SACP would do better, given its own class commitment, as opposed to a multi-class organisation like the ANC,” he said.  

The strike has also placed strain on the relationship between Nehawu and other Cosatu affiliates, including the South African Democratic Teachers Union, whose members in the Eastern Cape were allegedly forced to participate in the strike this week.

Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said Nehawu had “long vowed to liquidate” his union and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa. 

“Now we see the agenda,” he said. “We view this attack as a declaration of war and we will do whatever is in our power to protect our members, our organisational processes and our union.

“We have reached a point where we have accepted that Nehawu is an opponent and not a sister union and shall be treated as such,” he said.