Cosatu’s muscle is weakening, confined to wage, job issues and unable to mobilise broad support

The 1.6 million-member union federation Cosatu yesterday staged a countrywide mass protest against unemployment, retrenchments, the cost of living, poor economic growth and workers’ rights which drew nothing like the crowds it pulled at the peak of the struggle against apartheid.

Experts said yesterday that the 1980s demonstrations had a wider appeal and that now the world had changed significantly from the late 1980s.

When the National Party and apartheid were the common enemy, the protest movement featured an all-encompassing mobilisation supported by political, civic, student formations and organs of civil society.

1980s demonstrations had wider appeal than Cosatu march

Political analysts Dale McKinley and Rhodes University labour expert Prof Lucien van der Walt said the determination in the 1980s to end apartheid and the entire political-economic system propelled mass support across all sectors of the community – supported by the United Democratic Front (UDF).

“With the UDF, civic and community support, the mass mobilisation of the 1980s was more widespread than just wages,” said McKinley.

“Now it is not about the legitimacy of government, but about the labour policies and putting pressure on business – a few similarities, but a substantially different era.

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“The mass mobilisation then was more widespread because of the anti-apartheid movement and the UDF.

“Now, labour is on its own, without any connection with the civic and communities – only confined to wage and jobs issues,” he said.

The protest actions orchestrated by Cosatu yesterday would never reach the levels seen recently in Kenya and Sri Lanka. In both those cases, people took to the streets in huge numbers driven by economic grievances.

Cosatu protest never reach levels in Kenya and Sri Lanka

In Kenya, it was about a proposed tax increase while in Sri Lanka it was about the general collapse of the economy and government corruption.

In Kenya, the protests were led by young people, some of whom were killed by the security forces. But President William Ruto’s government abandoned the tax increase plans.

In Sri Lanka, the protest generated a tidal wave of anger as crowds overran the presidential palace, forcing then-leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country.

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South Africa is still a long way from either scenario and the Achilles heel for Cosatu’s mass action is “its alliance with the ruling party”.

“This has made Cosatu half-hearted in the kind of protest it mounts – not shutting down the economy or creating a warfare environment.

“Mass action has become more symbolic – strikes to send messages,” said McKinley.

‘Mass action more symbolic’

“Until that action is sustained – cutting across all sectors of society – with workers, students and communities being part of it, you cannot have a real sustained impact.

“Labour action has been muted and limited here in South Africa – as opposed to using mass action for fundamental change on a policy or political front.”

McKinley said labour was “fighting for legitimacy”.

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“What we have seen over the past 25 years has been union membership going down in numbers.

“Workers have been hit hard by mass retrenchments and the casualisation of the workforce.

“Most unions have also been painted into a corner through internal challenges and decisions made in handling money in union-owned investment companies.

Unions’ relevance in question

“This has put unions’ relevance in the eyes of the larger working class in question.

“If the majority of workers are not permanent and not unionised, the relevance of unions becomes less – having lost touch with the broader working class.

“Unions find themselves ringfenced in terms of worker demands – becoming less relevant in the eyes of workers and the poor.

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“You can see this challenge in the ability of unions to mass mobilise – outside labour territory.”

Van der Walt said: “The 1980s mass actions were much more effective, with unions much stronger than they are today.

“Unions had the power to close the economy through mass stayaways supported by the broader public.

80s unions marches more effective

“Unions had built a tradition of staging massive strikes, lasting for up to three days.

“Nowadays, that is done more rarely, with a lot of workers showing less enthusiasm to go to demonstrations.

“The organisation of mass demonstrations was much tighter – getting people to come out on a bigger scale.

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“With more preparation done, people were very much used to it – creating an environment for people to go to demonstrations.

“These days you get up to 10 000 people in demonstrations – compared to 90 000 people who were in the streets decades ago.

“Issues in the 1980s were not just about shopfloor matters but were much broader and more political.”