Date: 13/05/2010
Source: Congress of South African Trade Unions
Title: Cosatu: Vavi: Address by the Cosatu General Secretary to the NUM Central Committee, Johannesburg

President Senzeni Zokwana
General Secretary Frans Baleni
Members of the National Executive Committee
Leaders and cadres of the NUM gathering here in your capacity as the Central Committee
Comrades and friends

To me there is no greater honour than to be invited back to address the union that produced me, and gave me the highest honour to serve as the General Secretary of COSATU. A mere association with the NUM is an honour, most of all if you were its member, shaft steward, organiser and leader, as I have been.
This is the home of all progressive thinking; it is the union that perhaps more than any other in our country has ensured that COSATU defeats narrow workerism and continues with the traditions of basing our federation on a revolutionary, transformative and social type of trade unionism whose foundation were laid by such giants as Moses Kotane and Leslie Massina.
This is the biggest affiliate of COSATU, the biggest union in South Africa and the biggest union with a paid-up membership in the African continent. This is the union of Elijah Barayi, JB Marks, Sam Ntambane and Selby Mayise and I am so honoured that you gave me an opportunity to come back home to address you.
Guided by the most appropriate theme - a revolutionary union for a conscious membership - you are gathering in the workers' month of May, two weeks after we successfully celebrated May Day under the theme "building working class power for decent work - smash labour brokers".
Last month we celebrated 16 years of our freedom. Earlier this year we marked the 20th anniversary of the unbanning of our ANC and SACP and the release of our icon Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.
Later we shall be celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, the 28th anniversary of your union the NUM and the 25th anniversary of COSATU.
All of these historic milestones necessitate us to step back, take a deep breath and assess our strides and setbacks in all fronts of our ongoing transformation.
Is our NDR on track? Are we succeeding to effect deep and fundamental transformation of our society? Are we building the momentum towards building a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous South Africa? Are we addressing the three interrelated contradictions that formed the national grievance? Have we addressed the national oppression and liberated black people in general and Africans in particular from the yoke of national oppression and racism? Have we addressed the super exploitation of workers? Did we defeat the triple oppression facing women in our country?
There are no simple yes or no answers to all of these questions. We have made tremendous strides on all of these fronts, but, as we say, much more must still be done. Working together we can do more!
One thing for sure comrades, is that we can't claim that we have succeeded in building a non-racial democracy, when apartheid still lives on in the economy and every aspect of our lives. As long as the black majority remain largely confined to the former Bantustans and black residential areas, living under conditions of squalor and poverty, no longer under racist laws but the new economic apartheid, to them non-racialism is far removed from their daily reality.
One of the greatest mistakes we made in our desperate attempt to build non-racialism in the past was to unwittingly make statements that reconciliation means reconciling black majority with the reality of poverty, unemployment and inequalities and making them to accept that this is a reality that can't change. In our efforts to reconcile we entrenched property clauses in our constitution and ensured that not even a democratic government with huge support from the populace will effect fundamental redistribution of land and wealth.
Then we decided to beat ourselves before the bully arrived by uncritically and wholly embracing neoliberal approaches to transformation. We prioritised macroeconomic stability over industrialisation. We adopted first-world fiscal and monetary policies and ignored the fact that we are a developing nation with huge unemployment, poverty and inequalities.
We even accepted a categorisation by the then GATT that we are a developed nation and naively cut our tariffs even faster than required by the WTO. Recently as part of this naivety we went to UN conference on climate change, leading developing countries but abandoned ship only to accept a deal that will undermine our efforts to develop whilst letting those responsible for degradation of the environment off the hook.
We acted as if there was no Freedom Charter with ten clear demands, many of which, in particular the economic demands, remain only a pipe dream to many. We forgot that we received a strong mandate to implement the RDP and to ensure redistribution of wealth. We forget that we belong to a continent of Africa, which still suffers the effects of its colonialisation and post-independent visionary leadership.
Today a combination of all these factors is haunting us. Today comrades I want to say the situation we find ourselves in arises not only because we are still smarting from the effects of 300 years of colonialism and 40 years of apartheid. Increasingly, all the more so after 16 years, I want to submit that we are also reaping the benefits of a lack of strong, visionary and uncompromising leadership.
It is a shame that we keep on stating that the main benefits of our transformation have gone more to white monopoly capital than to workers, and that the working class finds itself wearing a political crown without the economic jewel.
We have allowed capital to restructure the working class, creating a two-tier labour market system. The first layer of workers enjoys most of the rights contained in the constitution. They are covered by collective bargaining and enjoy better work security and better pay.

The second layer are right-less and super-exploited workers for whom joining a union is a personal risk and upward job mobility is an illusion. It is a large and growing army of workers employed in low-paid, temporary, casualised jobs or employed through the enslaving labour broking system.

The sweatshop regime continues unabated, which is why the claim that our labour laws are ‘too rigid' is nonsense. Why did we not use political power to ban the labour brokers as soon we realised that employers were outsourcing work in the name of black economic empowerment, as a strategy to dodge their obligations in terms of the law and the new constitution?

Why today is there no hue and cry over the gross inequalities in wealth distribution. Health and education remain divided along racial lines. In the main it is black children whose educational experience is marked by poor learning infrastructure, classroom overcrowding, high dropout rates, and unsafe and dysfunctional schools.

There are equally glaring discrepancies in the quality of healthcare, with a first-world service for the wealthy in the private sector and a third-world service for the poor in the public sector. White South Africans are blessed with 23 more years of life than their black counterparts.

Is co-option of the middle strata, which includes leaders of the unions and political formation, not partly explaining the toleration of this unfolding tragedy?

The fault lines of the apartheid economy remain largely intact. The apartheid spatial economy remains unshaken. The highest levels of poverty and underdevelopment are still concentrated in the former Bantustans. The black working class, despite government provision of thousands of new houses, are still located far away from workplaces, forcing workers to spend a lot of the little wages they receive on ever-rising transport costs.

Statistics SA have announced that the official jobless rate rose from 24.3% of the labour force in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 25.2% in the first quarter of 2010. But the situation is even worse if we look at the more realistic, expanded definition of unemployment, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, a number which has swelled by 153 000 in the quarter. This has taken the unemployment rate up from 34.2% to 35.4% over the first three months of 2010.
The scourge of unemployment affects the youth the most. Of the unemployed 72% are young people between 15 and 34 years of age. Of the unemployed youth, 78% are African[1] <#_ftn1> . The proportion of Africans in total youth unemployment is 90%. Already, there is a significant number of youth who have never engaged in any type of employment. This situation shows that South Africa may be in an "inequality trap". The key drivers of unemployment are race, gender, location and education.
Unemployment affects those with less than Standard 10 the most. Almost 50% of African heads of households have less than Standard 7 and in contrast, only 8% of white heads of households have the same level of education.
A staggering 58% of Africans live in poverty, while a tiny minority control most of the country's resources and wealth. We live in the world's most unequal society, in which the race factor continues to dominate. An average African man earns in the region of R2 400 per month, whilst an average white man earns around R19 000. The racial income gap is therefore roughly R16 800 among males. The average earnings for white males are almost eight times the average monthly earnings of African males.

Most white women earn in the region of R9 600 per month, whereas most African women earn R1 200 per month. The racial income gap in monthly incomes among women is therefore R8 400. On average, white women also earn eight times more than their African counterparts.

The overwhelming majority of black South Africans are still waiting in vain for the empowerment, equal opportunities and better life they were promised.
The structures of domination and exclusion continue to find expression in our democratic dispensation. In the private sector, top management is 60% white male, 14% white female, 9% African male and 4% African female[2] <#_ftn2> . Coloured and Indian males account for an average of 4%, whilst females account for an average of 1.4% of top management in the country. In other words 74% of top management of the South African economy is drawn from 12% of the population.
The reasons behind these horrifying statistics were highlighted again this week by the appropriate comments made by the Minister of Finance, comrade Pravin Gordhan. He quoted from the survey of 326 companies by Phillip Theunissen, which showed that despite talk of recession, company CEOs were still able to double their annual earnings. According to the report in Business Day this week, the average CEO took three months to earn R1m or more. CEOs still earned twice as much on average as President Jacob Zuma, three times more than Cabinet ministers and 106 times more than a cleaner in the public service last year.
There can be no crime worse than the outrageous Bank CEOs' obscene packages. We are told that the outgoing Nedbank CEO Tom Boardman earned R43m last year, Standard Bank CEO Jacko Maree R18, 2m and Absa CEO Maria Ramos R13, 5m.
Let me repeat what we have repeated so frequently recently - that the source of corruption is the capitalist system of personal accumulation of wealth. It is business that corrupts and tempts public representatives and it has always been run on the basis of the survival of the fittest, where the principle of ‘dog-eats-dog' and ‘me-first' applies. Whilst workers' universal slogan is "an injury to one is the injury to all" the capitalist mentality daily practises: "an injury to one is an opportunity to the other".
Tragically the same culture of crass materialism has been invading our public sector and even our revolutionary movement.

Instead of some of our representatives doing everything they can to reverse the inequalities we inherited from apartheid and to confront the power of capital, they have now joined in the trough, feeding alongside company CEOs. Resources intended for the public good are being diverted to individuals' pockets so that the poor may be forever trapped in inequalities, poverty and unemployment.

Corruption is a cancer with its roots in the private business sector, but whose tentacles are reaching into the public sector as well. Corruption is tantamount to stealing from the poor and must be fought wherever it occurs, in the public and private sectors, as well as within our unions. Crass materialism and greed threatens the foundations of our democracy.

Of course the large majority of public representatives and senior officials are honest and dedicated servants of the public and not involved in any form of corruption. But for as long as a minority can get away with corrupt and fraudulent activities, it will undermine public confidence in all officials and the democratic system as a whole.

The government, which on Sunday celebrated its 1st anniversary in office, has not inspired confidence in the battle against crass materialism and corruption. Some Ministers themselves are driving around with cars worth over R1million, allowed by the handbook they are moving too slowly to change. Only in South Africa will you see reports that a premier has lost R14 million in cash in his house and the President does not announce an immediate investigation into the allegations. It is only here you will read report that over 10 leading cadres have been assassinated and that there is no order for a top-level investigation followed by arrests of the culprits.

Regrettably soon those who are now six feet underground for attempted whistle blowing will not join us in the fight against corruption and greed. Those who read these reports may be intimidated into silence. And those who have seen how those who have raised alarm bells about corruption have been hounded and slandered in the media will think twice before supporting a call for lifestyle audits.

Yet this is the very danger we face - that too many South Africans and companies may accept corruption as a new standard and norm. When the tenderpreneurs have succeeded to silence all, so then will our revolution be defeated.

The Aurora debacle and the myth of the patriotic bourgeoisie
In analysing the condition of mineworkers in England, Frederick Engels observed "the Bourgeoisie [is] not content with ruining the health of [the mineworkers], keeping them in danger of sudden loss of life, robbing them of all opportunity for education, [it also] plunders them in other directions in the most shameless manner."[3] <#_ftn3>
It is surprising how these words, uttered more than hundred years ago, remain true of the situation of mineworkers in this country.
The mining sector is amongst the most ravaged by HIV/Aids. The legacy of apartheid capitalism spells itself out more clearly in this sector. Although major struggles have been won, it remains true that the conditions of living in the mines are dehumanising and kill even the most zealous spirit.
We pledge our support for your ongoing struggles against the looters of our mineral resources as personified by Aurora's compadorial bourgeoisie. Your ongoing struggles with Aurora should be located within the context of our political vision of nationalisation and socialisation of the key commanding heights of the economy in the interests of the workers and the poor.
The Aurora debacle reminds us of the extent to which capital's only motive is profit maximisation and nothing else. Mineworkers in the Ekurhuleni and Orkney have been subjected to some of the most brutal treatment at the hands of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie. They have been robbed-off their rights to water and electricity. They have become prisoners of starvation.
The fact that the owners of the companies are BEE beneficiaries or what capitalist apologists would call a patriotic bourgeoisie should not blind us to the reality that the mass of workers who continue to toil the earth and risk their lives deep underground have not benefited from narrow BEE
The aspirant capitalist class has ensured that empowerment is limited to the empowerment of a few who muster certain levels of political and economic connections.
Aside from exposing the limitations of BEE as a model of empowerment, this debacle has also thrown asunder the myth that capital, can ever have a heart. When it comes to profit and workers, the bosses will always choose money over human life and dignity. The capitalist only cares about the health and well being of the worker only for so long his/her labour power continues to produce profit.
Comrades and friends
I have spoken about the conditions of our class without offering solutions. I am not a philosopher who spends all time analysing - our task is to redirect our energies into solving the unfolding human tragedy.
1. Ensure effective implementation of the Industrial Policy Action Plan for Decent Jobs!
This depressing picture painted with joblessness and poverty is amongst the reasons why labour and the manufacturing sector have joined hands to support the momentum towards an industrial strategy aimed at increasing the productivity and restoring the labour intensive nature of the our economy.
The emphasis here is to revitalise the productive capacity of the economy and the creation of decent jobs. We have also agreed that the manufacturing sector, whose contribution to the GDP has been declining, is central to the country's industrial strategy.
We are aware that the noble intentions of IPAP2 will not be realised if there is no synchronisation and coordination with macroeconomic policies. The fact that our currency is overvalued and volatile deals a blow to the ability of our country to export goods on a competitive scale.
We have been continuously arguing that our interest rates are far too high, which also means that there is no adequate finance available for productive industries and that the cost of borrowing is extremely high. The manufacturing sector cannot invest to expand production so long as the banks and development finance institutions have an iron fist approach to interest rates.
The declaration also calls for preferential procurement framework that promotes local industries and locally produced goods. The contention here is that we can no longer allow the invisible hand of the market to rule us. This invisible hand has created a crisis of joblessness and poverty for the majority of our people.
It is crucial to understand that this declaration is not a denunciation of class struggle nor is it recognition that the relationship between labour and capital is that of unity and struggle.
2. Implement a new growth path
COSATU will release its growth path document after CEC to be held in May. We are also glad that the government will be releasing its own growth path document during June. This is where we should have started few months after the 1994 breakthrough. But is it better late than never! We do need an overarching developmental strategy buttressed by the industrial policy for us to develop guided by a map.
3. Celebrate the 55 Years of the Freedom Charter
Comrades, this year marks the 55th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. Should we not be demanding that the state must intervene in the mines, to facilitate transfers from one fraction of capital to the other, but rather to ensure that miners, who are after-all the primary producers, own and control these mines? This is what you meant in 1987 when you declared, through your slogan, "mineworkers take control".
The lessons of the factory occupations in Argentina in early 2000 under the slogan "Occupy, Resist and Produce" are instructive. Workers in this instance took over factories that had been abandoned by the capitalist class and started producing a variety of goods for their own survival and the survival of the communities around them.
Mineworkers should be occupying Aurora mines for the benefit of our people as a whole. This will reverse the logic wherein production is all about from each according to ability, to each according to greed. Worker can own these mines and operate them on the basis of from each according to ability, to each according to need. We must demand that the state intervenes in this process to ensure that these mines are under worker control in the form of worker cooperatives.
4. We demand a complete ban of the labour brokers!
We should also be locating our demands for the banning of labour brokers and the termination of atypical forms of work such as subcontracting in the mining and construction sector under the Freedom Charter.
5. Launch a new Living Wage Campaign
As your General Secretary with the support of the NOBs I am going to the CEC at the end of the month to argue that the only way we can reverse all the things I have highlighted in this speech is through, amongst others, launching a new Living Wage Campaign at a scale not seen in this country. We must reverse this trend, or accept that freedom will continue to be enjoyed by the few.
We are doing research and pulling together all figures that spell disaster for workers in the workplace. We know already that we are not making progress to ensure that black people are promoted to senior management positions in the private sector. We know that alongside this we have not succeeded to skill the working class on the mass scale needed by our economy. This is so because largely the trade unions have lost the plot in the SETAs.
We have no agenda and we need to discover our agenda why we demanded that these SETAs be established. We know the extent of the apartheid gap in our country but we want to know more about what is happening to wage inequalities in every sector. We know that many workers continue to be maimed by preventable accidents and die from occupation diseases. We know the prevalence of HIV and AIDS and its devastating impact to the working class.
We will hold a wage policy conference or bargaining conference later this year or early in 2011. What will emerge from the conference will be a clear set of demands to reverse the trends we have spoken about in this address. We shall confront these massive wage differentials between workers and senior managers! We shall call strikes to demand true affirmative action and employment equity. We shall demand mass skilling of the working class. We shall make it clear that we are selling our labour, not our lives and limbs!
In short we need a new campaign to ensure that the benefits of the economy are shared so that we can make sense of the Freedom Charter demand that the wealth of the country must be shared amongst all who work it. When we do so we shall close our ears on those who will shout at us in the sidelines. We shall continue to tighten belts and die of diseases associated with poverty, whilst a few are dying of diseases associated with over-eating and opulence.
Alongside this campaign we must push for all the ANC manifesto priorities to be implemented with speed.
To all workers we say: get mobilised - join COSATU for a mother of all battles! To this Central Committee of our biggest affiliate we say give us more weapons to fight and continue to provide leadership to the federation.

Amandla Aluta Continua!