Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi lecture at Wits University04 - 10 - 07 |
Public Lecture: Towards a Common Future: Conversations on Leadership
By Zwelinzima Vavi - COSATU General Secretary, October 4, 2007
COSATU is part of the liberation movement which has, through its participation in the structures of the Tripartite Alliance and in its own right, prosecuted the struggle against the tyranny of the illegal minority apartheid regime for many years.
We welcome the opportunity to reflect on the achievements and challenges of our young democracy. This lecture takes place at an opportune moment and poses necessary and thorny issues facing our society - what is the quality of leadership we need to advance our Revolution?
COSATU has emerged from its Central Committee to tackle the complex question of what programme and collective leadership will advance the National Democratic Revolution?
The sensationalist reporting on the identified list of candidates preferred by COSATU glosses over a rich and robust debate about the nature of our post 1994 society and what programme can help consolidate and deepen our democratic breakthrough.
Since many are not familiar with COSATU's internal processes and debates it is worthwhile to spend a few minutes interpreting the outcome of our 9th National Congress and the 4th Central Committee.
After intense debates about the trajectory of the post-1994 society and the state of the alliance, delegates at the National Congress decided that the struggle must continue, albeit under different circumstances.
Much as the situation has changed for the working class, there was a realisation that the agenda of capital was hegemonic and in some respect had begun to erode the democratic rights gained by the working class.
COSATU has repeatedly pointed out why we think the first decade of democracy favoured capital in economic terms. We have further declared that the second decade must belong to the workers and the poor.
Under this situation, it is our view that the only way to succeed is to build the independent power of the working class; build a united ANC committed to fundamental; and to ensure the Alliance is the centre that drives transformation.
Conservative economic policy of the mid-1990s spawned an undemocratic culture to creep in within the movement, the alliance and greater society. The right to decide the economic future of this society was preserved for an elite few and it was left to mass organisation and action to prise open the economic policy debate.
In this context the politics of scare mongering, fear and patronage replaced the rich democratic traditions that are the hallmarks of our movement.
Decision-making has been preserved for cabinet, with our movement and the alliance - and indeed the rest of society - tail-ending decisions made by the executive. This style of bureaucratic centralism is alien to the culture built over many years in our movement. Ironically, the political settlement was secured through a thorough going process of building sufficient consensus across the political spectrum. Yet the economic policy door was firmly shut. GEAR was rammed down without effective consultation.
Many of the controversies in the alliance emanate from this near-autocratic manner of handling sensitive policy questions and the marginalisation of both the ANC and the alliance from the core processes of policy development and formulation.
One of the conclusions of the congress is that "whilst the historic constituency of the ANC remains the black working class, and the poor majority, the national leadership of the ANC is increasingly becoming capitalist and middle strata in composition and character. Furthermore the ANC is also dominated by cadres drawn from the state and that there are far too few cadres from outside the state. Working class leadership has been weakened within the national leadership structures of the ANC."
Against this background, the congress resolved that we must combine the tactic of swelling the ranks with actual grass roots struggles and build maximum unity of the working class. In many respects this was a watershed congress and has plunged COSATU into uncharted territory.
The decision to demand that an alliance Pact for transformation be agreed upon arises not out of a confused and politically immature working class. It is a serious political intervention by the working class. It seeks to ensure that we return to the historical conceptualisation of the NDR as a transformative project, not limited to deracialisation of political, economic and social power. The following quote from the 1969 programme represents the essence of the NDR we want to achieve:
" Our nationalism must not be confused with chauvinism or narrow nationalism of a previous epoch. It must not be confused with the classical drive by an elitist group among the oppressed people to gain ascendancy so that they can replace the oppressor in the exploitation of the mass .In our country - more than in any other part of the oppressed world - it is inconceivable for liberation to have meaning without a return of the wealth of the land to the people as a whole. It is therefore a fundamental feature of our strategy that victory must embrace more than formal political democracy. To allow the existing economic forces to retain their interests intact is to feed the root of racial supremacy and does not represent even the shadow of liberation" (our emphasis)
Our struggle "is also happening in a new kind of South Africa; a South Africa in which there is a large and well-developed working class.and in which the independent expressions of the working people - their political organs and trade unions - are very much part of the liberation front."(ANC Strategy and Tactics, 1969)"
So what is this Pact? The COSATU congress resolution called on the Central Executive Committee to develop "a set of policy objectives . to measure the extent to which the ANC is able to shift to represent the interests of the working class." The congress then said criteria to measure this shift should include:
1. Implementation of nationalisation provisions of the Freedom Charter,
2. An end to privatisation and commercialisation and commodification of service delivery,
3. Adoption of an economic policy that ensures redistribution of wealth to the poor, and
4. Abolition of legislation that is not worker-friendly.
Interestingly this Resolution states that these criteria "must include measurable outcomes, with specified timescales so that by June 2008 we are able to assess the extent to which these criteria have been met" (i.e. a shift in policy). "The hope is that other unions, NGOs and social movements will generate their own list of demands."
The ANC will convene in the 52nd National Conference in December to finalise its Strategy and Tactics; adopt broad ranging resolutions and elect a new leadership. Let us emphasize only the ANC members through their branches have a right to do so. COSATU's interest in the conference is informed by our selfish interest to retain the ANC as a progressive left movement biased towards the working class. Further, we have an interest to ensure that it pursues a far bolder programme to transform our society from its colonial basis.
Yes, is it true that the Ninth National Congress resolution marks a departure from COSATU's historical position not to be involved in internal ANC leadership questions. The COSATU Congress has taken the unprecedented position that the Federation must take a stance on this matter.
We have since developed criteria and principles to interpret the resolution; and to clarify why workers should take an interest in this matter. The broad aim of this is to ensure that the ANC and its NEC is representative of its constituencies. The criteria that we have developed include:
1. Commitment to the radical NDR and thorough-going transformation
2. Proven commitment to the Alliance
3. Commitment to the unity of the ANC and the democratic movement
4. Commitment to make this decade truly a decade of workers and the poor
5. Internationalism based on historic position of the ANC that is anti imperialist
6. Working-class leadership
We have used these criteria to identify the top six and most senior positions of the ANC, which is public knowledge. Again let us emphasize we did not arrive at this list because every individual fully complies with every point of the criteria. The collective, when taken together, comes closer to the criteria.
Most importantly the fact that we list the people we have identified does not mean an end to the struggle. We are not seeking a messiah, because ultimately it is the power of collective action and disciplined organisation that changes things. So COSATU does not believe that this or that individual or collective alone is capable of changing society. The masses of our people must remain at the centre of our transformation agenda.
However we desperately need new leadership that will change the environment in the ANC, the alliance and society. This does not mean we will be less critical when there is a new leadership. We will continue to raise our concerns sharply within the alliance and in public.
However our sincere hope and aspiration is that we will have a new environment within the alliance and the ANC. We further hope that a new leadership will be sympathetic to our cause and help unify the movement and the alliance.
So even if those we have identified are not elected COSATU remains committed to the alliance and will work constructively with the new leadership. However, our members have made a serious call that it cannot be business as usual in the alliance and on the policy front.
We need policies to accelerate transformation and ensure large-scale empowerment of our people through jobs, redistribution of assets and income and other poverty eradication strategies.
We await with anticipation the outcome of the Conference and find comfort in some of the resolutions passed in the recent June Policy Conference. If implemented they will go a long way to eradicate the economic and social legacy of apartheid. We are also encouraged by some of the draft organisational resolutions that will help deepen internal democracy in the ANC.
As we go to the conference we are faced with a daunting challenge to unify the movement and heal the rifts that have become apparent.
In this conference, we will either build a strong, united and progressive movement or we shall begin to dig the grave of this glorious movement of our people. Our choice is to build a strong ANC and confront openly the challenges facing the movement to avert an untimely death of what many have died for.
I thank you.