Cosatu meeting spells trouble for indecisive Zuma

27 June 2011 - 10:31 By The Times Editorial
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President Jacob Zuma. File picture.
President Jacob Zuma. File picture.
Image: Esa Alexander © Sunday Times

The Times EditorialAs Cosatu begins its central committee meeting today in Midrand there will be key questions about its role within the tripartite alliance that must be answered.

Chief for the trade union federation must be the meagre dividends it has received in return for its significant investment in electing Jacob Zuma to the presidency of the ANC in Polokwane in 2007.

Then he was their man, with Cosatu's general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, going so far as to describe Zuma as a "political tsunami". But this tsunami's power rapidly diminished from the moment he became South African president.

Instead, Zuma has consistently appeared incapable of incisive decision-making and intervention.

Cosatu has repeatedly issued calls for labour brokering to be scrapped and it became part of the Polokwane resolutions, but that is essentially as far as it went - there has been no real movement since Zuma ascended to the Union Buildings.

Cosatu has also been at the receiving end of the biting criticism of the ANC's Gwede Mantashe, who recently lambasted the federation for acting like an opposition party.

Vavi's condemnation of corruption in the government, the launch of a corruption barometer and the appointment of David Lewis as head of Cosatu's anti-corruption unit certainly offer the guise of being in opposition to Luthuli House.

Yesterday, Vavi offered a vague statement that Cosatu would be debating the weaknesses within the leadership of the alliance during the next few days.

Undoubtedly, Zuma's inaction will feature prominently, leaving the door wide open for a succession debate within the ruling party.

When he arrives today in Midrand to deliver a speech, Zuma will know that his survival for another term is far from certain.

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