Cosatu has moved to kill talk of a split in the Tripartite Alliance, resolving to support both the ANC and the SACP in the upcoming local government elections, while giving its incoming leadership – to be announced tomorrow – a first mandate of confronting the ANC over Gwede Mantashe’s dramatic walkout.
The federation’s decision comes after days of high tension at its 15th National Congress, where ANC chairperson Mantashe, a former Cosatu affiliate leader, stormed out following heckling from delegates unhappy with the ANC’s direction and his own political posture.
Despite the incident, Cosatu says the alliance is bigger than one individual.
Spokesperson Matthew Parks confirmed that Congress has formally adopted a dual-support resolution.
“Cosatu has a long standing alliance with the ANC and SACP and have given both partners support in a variety of forms, including the ANC at the ballot box. It is a matter of now extending our support to the ANC during elections to now include the SACP,” Parks said.
“Some modalities will need to be fleshed out but the principle of supporting both the election campaigns of both the ANC and SACP has been established by Congress.”
The resolution is historic. Since 1994, Cosatu has only campaigned for the ANC at the ballot box. The SACP, which has traditionally contested under the ANC banner, will for the first time contest the November local government elections independently in some municipalities after its 2022 decision to go it alone.
This had threatened to tear Cosatu apart, with affiliates divided between loyalty to the ANC and ideological alignment with the SACP.
The Congress resolution attempts to paper over that crack by backing both.
Parks said the federation will now have to work out how its structures, finances and volunteers will be divided between two competing campaigns on the ground – a logistical and political minefield.
“Some modalities will need to be fleshed out,” he admitted, signalling difficult negotiations ahead.
On the Mantashe fallout, Cosatu sought to be both firm and conciliatory.
The federation confirmed that its newly elected national office bearers will be immediately deployed to Luthuli House.
“The Congress has mandated the incoming leadership to engage the ANC on delegates’ unhappiness with the ANC Chairperson’s decision to walk out of the congress,” Parks said.
“It was an unnecessary and disappointing decision by a former leader of an affiliate of Cosatu.”
Mantashe is a former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, Cosatu’s largest affiliate, and his walkout was seen by many delegates as disrespectful to workers.
But Parks stressed the incident should not be used to define the relationship between Cosatu and the ANC.
“However it is the decision of an individual and does not reflect upon the Federation’s long standing alliance with the ANC. This is a relationship forged during the darkest decades of apartheid and has steered South Africa’s transformation over the last 32 years. It will continue to be the most effective political vehicle to drive working class struggles and defend workers’ rights,” he said.
The federation, which remains the country’s largest trade union federation, is desperate to project unity ahead of a bruising local government election where service delivery failures have eroded ANC support in working-class communities – Cosatu’s own base.