Obituary: Alina Rantsolase: MP and former unionist with head for accounting

Alina Rantsolase, who has died in Vereeniging at the age of 56, was a woman of the people with no formal education. She was sent to parliament as an ANC MP last year as a reward for her contribution to the trade union movement.

After a hard life as a worker for Checkers, shop steward, lead negotiator and Cosatu national treasurer, she might have been excused for lounging on the back benches waiting for retirement age so that she could start drawing a pension.

Instead, her work ethic and impressive, self-taught accounting skills made such an impact on her fellow MPs that she was quickly appointed chairman of the ANC's parliamentary caucus and given the job of sorting out the financial mess it was in.

A stickler for hard work and proper procedure, she brought some order to the chaos, but not in time to save the jobs of many ANC staffers who, in spite of her best efforts and to her great distress, had to be retrenched.

Her no-fear, no-favours approach and unflinching insistence that the rules, which she knew inside out, be followed to the letter did not endear her to the ANC hierarchy, and there were reportedly tensions between her and chief whip Matole Motshekga.

The Cosatu leadership, which sent her to parliament against her wishes, had a good chuckle at the discomfort of their ANC colleagues because, during her 10 years as the trade union federation's national treasurer, Rantsolase had put them through the wringer as well.

She came to Cosatu as national treasurer in 1999 after distinguishing herself as a shop steward and chief negotiator for the SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union.

Cosatu's books were also a mess, and she applied the same medicine she was to apply to its alliance partners in parliament.

She refused to allow the unionists to get away with a cent of unauthorised or wasteful expenditure, and there were many vigorous head-butting sessions between her and her male superiors as she quizzed them as to what they were going to spend the money they had requested on.

If she was not convinced, then her answer was no, and no amount of ranting, cajoling, arm-twisting or pleading could make her change her mind.

She was not happy about her move to Cape Town, and it took all of Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi's skills of persuasion to make her see it would be in her long-term interests.

In addition to sorting out her party's finances, Rantsolase served on the home affairs and labour portfolio committees, where her hard work and refusal to play cheap party politics won her the respect of opposition parties.

She often went out on a limb to try to reach compromises.

Her status as an MP did not change her. Wearing her trademark beret, she remained down-to-earth, friendly and approachable, and never forgot that she was there to represent the interests of people struggling to earn a daily crust.

She was quick to remind government officials who appeared before her committees of this.

Rantsolase was born in a poor rural village in the Free State on March 15 1954. Her mother worked as a servant on a farm.

She became involved in the anti-apartheid movement while at school.

When her frequently disrupted school career ended, she joined Checkers.

Her colleagues elected her as their shop steward, and she represented them in negotiations with the company.

She was dogged by ill health for some time before her death, on one occasion collapsing during a meeting of the labour portfolio committee.

She is survived by her daughter, Puleng, who is a chartered accountant.