Speech by Z.Vavi at the Sactwu Congress 10-08-07

 

Speech by Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary
10th National Congress of the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers Union (SACTWU); 11 August 2007

Comrades;
Allow me to pass revolutionary greetings on behalf of the COSATU NOBs, the CEC and the entire COSATU members. Let me echo our regret at the untimely death of your President comrade John Zikhali and may his soul rest in peace.

Your congress takes place at a critical moment in the history of the country and our movement. It take place against the backdrop of significant events in South Africa and the world at large, too numerous to count and discuss. For that reason, I will dwell on a few critical issues that confront our national democratic revolution.

The SACTWU Congress takes place almost a year since the historic COSATU 9th National Congress. That Congress was a watershed moment ushering COSATU into a new dispensation. The congress, judged in terms of resolutions and the mood, was a militant one. Delegates have given the leadership a tough mandate to advance workers' interests at the political, economic and social levels. As leaders, working with our members, we have a responsibility to fulfil the workers' aspirations and wishes.

We were told by our detractors that COSATU was an organisation in crisis, on the verge of collapse. This Congress was a resounding rebuttal of that baseless and mischievous prediction of our death. Indeed, the news of our death is highly exaggerated and only serves to sow confusion in our ranks.
Not only is COSATU vibrant; we entered the Congress on a new growth trajectory in both quantitative and qualitative terms. SACTWU played no small part in ensuring that we retain and grow our membership. COSATU continues to play a vital role in our society, politics and in the economy.

We are notching important victories for our members at the workplace and the broader policy level.
This does not mean we do not have weaknesses and challenges. Economic restructuring and the changing nature of work have thrown up new challenges to the working class worldwide. Principally, it has created a new layer of non-unionised, insecure, poorly paid and casualised workers. This is the principal challenge facing workers throughout the world. It is a challenge to organise all workers into trade unions and to build maximum unity of the working class across industries and national boundaries.

Nevertheless we are not a movement in crisis as portrayed by our detractors. May they live longer to see us record more victories on behalf of our members and working families more generally. They inspire us to redouble our efforts to build strong organisations and face the might of capital.
This Congress is also a celebration of the versatility and resilience of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union. Stronger organisations and individuals have capitulated in the face of daunting challenges. SACTWU faced the challenge of a dwindling industry by maintain organisational coherence and unity; but more importantly by recruiting more members. Your visionary leadership and your loyal members are a potent combination against the many challenges faced by SACTWU.

SACTWU embodies the type of trade union envisaged by the founders of COSATU. We are a revolutionary trade union movement committed to the broader struggle for transformation in society and the work place. SACTWU is active on many fronts to give meaning to this notion of revolutionary trade union. You have mobilised resources to combat HIV and AIDS and have championed the cause of the clothing sector when the government and employers had given up the fight.

To that end you have given thought to how the industry can be saved and mobilised resources to promote the local fashion industry. SACTWU also understands that the cause of clothing workers in South Africa is linked to the plight of clothing and textile workers globally. The clothing sector shows the pronounced ravages of a senseless globalisation based on the erosion of workers rights and humanity. Thousands of workers, mostly women and children, work under deplorable conditions, working harder but getting poorer.

As you have correctly understood, the future of the sector cannot be pinned on further erosion of workers rights in a global race to the bottom. Rather, it is based on innovation, modernisation and decent working conditions. Many have scoffed at the idea of doing anything to save jobs in the industry.

Clothing provides jobs and skills, mainly to women and is one of the major employers of women in the manufacturing industry. These workers support thousands of dependents and the sector is also critical in some areas of South Africa.
Saving the industry is about saving livelihoods, local economic development and investments in technology and skills. Against this background, while we welcome government's intervention as important to provide breathing space for the industry, we note with concern the slow pace of implementation. It will take more than this intervention, however, to repair the damage caused by hasty and senseless economic liberalisation of the 1990s.

For this reason, we welcome the ANC Policy Conference resolution that the state must play an active and interventions role on the basis of a coherent industrial strategy. In this regard, we also welcome Industrial Policy Framework released by the Department of Trade and Industry as a step in the right direction. However, more needs to be done to support and target sectors, like clothing, that have high labour-absorbing capacity.

Lead sectors identified in the Framework - namely capital/transport equipment and metals; automotives and components; chemicals, plastic fabrication and pharmaceutical; forestry, pulp and paper, and furniture - while important, are highly capital-intensive in nature. For that reason, the task of developing an employment-creating industrial policy framework is far from over. We need to see more strategies targeted at labour-intensive industries and we also need a participatory sector strategy process in line with GDS Resolutions.

The ANC recently hosted a successful National Policy Conference and I wish to share my thoughts on the outcome of the conference. We must first thank the ANC for democratising the policy debate through publication of its discussion papers and involvement of the branches. No other political party in South Africa opens itself to public scrutiny in the manner the ANC conducted the policy discussion.
The outcome of the policy conference has reaffirmed the ANC's stance as an organisation of the people. Delegates to the conference understood that the national democratic revolution is far from over and that our society remains trapped by the racial, class and gender divisions of the past. While noting progress in building a new society, they understood that the pressing challenge is to fundamentally transform our society if we are to achieve the ideals of the Freedom Charter of an inclusive and caring society.

While reaffirming aspects of the discussion documents, however, delegates went further than was proposed. On economic policy questions I have cited seven areas where delegates fundamentally widened the horizon. These areas include rural development; macro-economic policy; the role of the state and the need to protect vulnerable workers. The conference resolutions give us hope that a new era is indeed possible moving away from the conservative economic policy of the 1990s.

A new consensus within the alliance is in the making and requires bold leadership to take advantage of the new openings. First, we all accept that jobs and poverty are the principal challenges confronting our society. We are constantly being rudely reminded of the widening gap between the rich and the poor, which threatens the vision of an inclusive and caring society. Second, we are all agreed that we need an active, democratic developmental state to carry out the transformation of our society. Reliance on the market has not only failed to transform society in line with the goals of the NDR, it has further entrenched inequality. Third, it is now agreed that industrial strategy is important to diversify our economy and create large-scale employment.

While the new is struggling to be born, the old is refusing to retreat and die. All these important agreements have not translated into a policy or programmatic agreement within the alliance. They remain policy positions of each alliance component, but form an important basis from which a new deal can be struck. This however requires political leadership on the part of the allies to take forward these agreements and usher in a new dispensation in alliance politics.

In a few weeks time we will convene the Central Committee to reflect on challenges facing the working class. We will further reflect on the outcome of the ANC policy conference and prepare for the forthcoming National Conference. We have an interest in the outcome of the conference as workers and members of the ANC.

First, we want the ANC to retain its orientation as a liberation movement biased towards the working class or as a progressive left formation. Second, we want an ANC leadership committed to advance the NDR under these new conditions. Third, the policy conference resolutions form an important basis for ground-breaking policies to address the plight of the masses of our people. We shall articulate our views in respect of which policy positions should be further reinforced to respond to the plight of the working class. In a nutshell, we shall not give up the ANC as it belongs to the people. The alliance should also be reconfigured to play its proper role of marshalling and leading the forces for change.

On a different note comrade, we note with serious concern and regret the President's decision to fire the Deputy Minister of Health, comrade Nozizwe Madlala-Rouleidge, from her position. COSATU has released a full statement on this matter. Suffice to note that this is a big step backward in the fight against HIV and AIDS. It is also a step back from inculcating a culture of vigorous debate with the movement and society.

Since the President did not disclose his reason for taking such a drastic step we can only speculate that the Deputy Minister is paying for her courageous position on HIV and AIDS and her refusal to sweep health problems under the carpet. This is sending the wrong message that government leadership values mediocrity and sycophancy above service to the people. This should however not deter South Africa from confronting the HIV and AIDS with the vigour and passion associated with the former Deputy Minister.

Workers and the rest of the country wait patiently for the outcome of this congress. You must resolve to intensify the struggle on all fronts and to build a stronger SACTWU! I wish all the best in your deliberations.

Amandla!