Zwelinzima Vavi -the Secretary General of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)- is a man that I am growing to admire. His unending challenge of the opulence of parliamentarians as well as his fight for the rights of workers is something I can respect.
However, On Monday 06th June Zwelinzima Vavi said that South Africa is a ticking time bomb on the verge of a massive uprising. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but his comment brings to light the double standards of the trade union.
Cosatu foresees disaster for this country yet just a few weeks ago they willed their members to go out in numbers and vote for the ANC. Since 1994 Cosatu has been a bedfellow of the ANC, insisting that all of its 2 million members vote for the ANC. As a reward for this, Cosatu's leadership get handed high positions of power in parliament and cabinet. Essentially Cosatu have a hand in running our country without ever having to canvass anyone for votes.
They are complaining about the state of our country but they are part of the leadership running our country. When they are challenged on this duplicity they say that the ANC holds all the power and they are powerless to change economic policy.
So either they need to stop talking and start fixing. Or if they feel that they do not have sufficient power to change our economic policies then they should break away from the ANC and run in elections independently.
They are doing neither, so it begs the question: can we take Cosatu seriously? And if we can’t, can we still take their leader seriously?
What do you think?
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