Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi and first deputy president Mike Shingange during Cosatu’s 15th National Congress at Gallagher Conference Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg. Picture Freddy Mavunda © Business Day
Cosatu’s congress failed to get off the ground this week, with 1,820 delegates sent home after a bitter leadership fight brought the federation to a standstill.
The congress was adjourned after two days of deadlock over the suspension of Cosatu’s first deputy president, Mike Shingange, by Nehawu on the eve of the gathering. Shingange was suspended on Saturday after defying an instruction from the union not to sign his nomination form, which would have prevented him from contesting for the Cosatu presidency.
According to delegates, Nehawu had decided to back another candidate to replace Zingiswa Losi as president, with Losi now running for the position of general secretary. But Shingange refused to stand down and went ahead with his bid for the presidency. His suspension immediately became the flashpoint at the congress, with delegates demanding that he be allowed to participate despite being suspended by his union.
The dispute dragged on for 48 hours, effectively paralysing the congress. Affiliated unions withheld the credentials of their candidates, making it impossible to establish whether the congress had the required quorum to continue. Cosatu’s constitution says that if a quorum cannot be established within three hours of the start of congress, the gathering must stand down and be reconvened by the president within a month.
Losi announced the decision in a closed session after the media were ordered out of the venue. The Sunday Times has, however, obtained a 10-minute video of Losi’s address to delegates, recorded by sources who were in the meeting.
Losi described the situation as “a difficult and painful moment in the life of the federation” and said the decision to adjourn was taken in terms of section 3.4 of Cosatu’s constitution.
Indeed, Cosatu is bigger than any one of us, let us protect it, let us unite it, let us hand it to the next generation stronger than we find it.
— Zingiswa Losi, Cosatu president
“Comrade leadership, this decision has not been taken lightly. We want to be absolutely clear that this is not a victory for one side or a defeat for another. There are no winners when Cosatu is divided,” she said. “Our responsibility at this moment is bigger than any individual, than any position or any difference amongst ourselves. Our responsibility is to protect Cosatu.”
Losi said the month-long break should give the Cosatu leadership and its affiliates time to “lower the temperatures” and have frank discussions about the future of the federation.
“The CEC will urgently meet to address the matters before us and make the constitutional, political and logistical preparations for this congress to reconvene,” she said. “But comrades, when we return we must return differently. We must be prepared to listen to one another, we must be able to engage, disagree without treating each other as enemies. The comradeship is not only demonstrated when we agree. It is tested mostly when we disagree.”
Losi reminded delegates that workers had not sent them to congress to fight each other, but to tackle the problems confronting workers and South Africans every day, mainly unemployment, poverty, exploitation, retrenchments and the rising cost of living. “And those are our burdens. Those are our enemies, not one another,” she said.
She said the leadership would ultimately be judged not by who shouted the loudest or who won the leadership battle, but by how it responded when the federation found itself in crisis.
“The question therefore comrades is, when Cosatu faced a difficult moment, did we have the courage and the wisdom to put the federation above ourselves? Let us therefore leave here as comrades, let us lower the temperatures, let us talk to one another, let us listen to one another, let us rebuild trust.
“And when we reconvene, let us return united, disciplined and ready to complete the work workers sent us here to do. Indeed, Cosatu is bigger than any one of us, let us protect it, let us unite it, let us hand it to the next generation stronger than we find it.”