A SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) organisational report presented by general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi at its national congress in Boksburg has painted a bleak picture about the future of the trade union federation.
Saftu was a splinter of the biggest federation in the country, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), and was touted to be in pole position to break the long-standing dominance of the ANC-led alliance partner.
However after the launch of Saftu five years ago, the federation is in a much worse state than it was in 2017, Vavi’s report revealed.
Among the problems facing Saftu that Vavi reported to the national congress sitting in Ekurhuleni was the plummeting membership numbers of the federation’s leading affiliates, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu).
In the five years of its existence Saftu has shed 62,000 members, with more than 60% of this loss from Numsa ranks.
“Our problem is when they decline by a small percentage, that is too much because we are relying on those big two to sustain and grow membership,” said Vavi.
According to Vavi, it was difficult to accept that Saftu was bleeding membership when most of the working population is not unionised.
Vavi’s report also took a swipe at Numsa, calling it another threat to Saftu’s survival as the federation’s biggest affiliate was apparently “the main enemy at home”, calling for the conference to watch out for this during the gathering.
In a further dig at Numsa and its potential threat to Saftu, Vavi warned against “business unionism”, a phenomenon of trade unions that use their financial muscle to bully other affiliates and entrench corruption.
Numsa is Saftu’s richest affiliate, thanks to its formidable cash cow in the form of the Numsa Investment Company.
Vavi said Numsa, should it not be careful about its obsession with its investment arm and the leverage it gives its leaders, will fall into the trap of many fallen trade unions that had strong financial muscle.
How do we ensure individual worker leaders are not targeted by the operators of union investment companies and are corrupted through irregular financial benefits and other means?
— Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi
“How do we ensure individual worker leaders are not targeted by the operators of union investment companies and are corrupted through irregular financial benefits and other means?” He asked rhetorically, in reference to the proximity between Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim and Numsa Investment Company boss Khandani Msibi.
“How do we stop investment companies from winning over a layer of leaders to an agenda of accumulation and possible corruption? How do we stop union investment companies from interfering and influencing union decision-making and election of leaders?
“How should the unions regulate the conflict of interest involving leaders who have undeclared business interests and who have their families involved in business? Should union leaders be banned from having business interests?”
Vavi claimed bickering Saftu leaders, who have been at each other’s throats since 2019, have worsened the situation.
He said it was shocking to realise in the past three years that his national office bearer colleagues resented each other so much that leaders adopted “cut-throat” tactics at the expense of workers.
He said the R1.50 subscription fee from members was not enough to sustain the financial obligations of the federation and should this not change, Saftu might close shop.
“It should be a shame that a federation with big dreams only had seven permanent staff members at its head office and existed only in three provinces.”
“Starving the federation of resources has reduced it to a toothless bulldog. No federation can survive on R1 subscription per member. The R1.50 is not making any difference, not even the R2 the central committee was speaking about, but could not agree on, can be enough,” he submitted.
“We have only launched three provincial structures and we cannot go further. We do not have offices or any equipment to print, no telephone nor a receptionist answering calls from workers who want to join the federation.”
Vavi believes despite all its problems, Saftu should not be allowed to fail as it was the only alternative to the politically embedded Cosatu that has long left the workplace shop floor in favour of embedding itself in ANC “factional gymnastics”.
“How can we allow such a beautiful thing we have built to break with ease?”
Saftu congress delegates will today vote on new leadership. Vavi is seeking re-election as the federation’s boss.
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