Moneyweb
*Cosatu's slippery slope* *Sipho Ngcobo, Moneyweb, Johannesburg, 31 July 2013*Is this the tacit confirmation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)'s demise?
Well it depends which way you look at it . . . In other words whether you are a realist or denialist.
Dogged by the deepest leadership divisions of its vibrant history, the once all-powerful, all conquering trade union federation may never be the same again.
Less than five months ago ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe warned Cosatu that the federation was on a dangerous downward slope.
Addressing the federation's bargaining conference in Boksburg earlier in the year, he warned Cosatu that it would "not last a year" if internal squabbles continued tearing it apart.
"Cosatu is on a dangerous downward slope. Workers will begin to look for alternatives, and when they look for alternatives they don't hear and they don't feel us. You are actively going to destroy it (Cosatu)," warned Mantashe.
The statement was a back-drop to the federation's bitterest internal wrangle amid allegations of corruption against General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
The leadership divisions were deep and pointed. Vavi was accused of corruption involving the sale of the old Cosatu House for R10 million which some leaders within the federation claimed constituted half of its valuation. Knives came out after Vavi was said to have rejected R15 million for the same building from Popcru.
At the same time Vavi was accused of influencing the appointment of his step-daughter to one of the federation's investment companies. At that time the Cosatu leadership, led by Free State Provincial Secretary Sam Mashinini, vehemently denied the federation was dogged by leadership battles, dismissing Mantashe's warning as an exaggeration.
*Rape allegations*But it's worse now. Allegations of financial corruption have graduated into accusations of rape against Vavi. This once-powerful figure who could do no wrong in the face of the public, is fighting for his life after admitting to having unprotected sex with a Cosatu employee, which he claims was consensual.
But the woman had made a startling initial claim to the media prior to that saying that she was raped: "I told him no. I asked him to stop .... He did not stop. He put me on the floor and forced himself on me."
Vavi claimed the woman later tried to extort R2 million from him.In a dramatic turn of events Vavi announced that she dropped the complaint against him just two hours into Cosatu's internal disciplinary hearing into the matter. The fact of the matter is we may never know what actually happened. Only Vavi and the woman know.
Nonetheless, damage is already done. Either way you look at it, public opinion has dramatically swayed against Vavi.
The question remains. Is this the final demise of Zwelinzima Vavi the once-powerful General-Secretary of the all-powerful, all-conquering Cosatu? Or is it the demise of Cosatu as Mantashe predicted?
It may well be.When two bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers. Sounds like an old tired cliché to you? Could as well be but it fits snugly into the Cosatu affair. The grass is already suffering. Member unions are already losing membership in the North West's platinum belt to Amcu. The NUM, probably the largest Cosatu affiliate is no longer the majority union over there. Remember what Mantashe said: "Workers will look for alternatives."
It's going to get worse.When Vavi goes (and he will go very soon), that will spell doom. Some of his supporters will go with him. Cosatu may not necessarily fall apart from day one or in less than a year as Mantashe predicted, but the federation would go on a gradual downward spiral.
What a pity!*From: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-south-africa/cosatus-slippery-slope*
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