Cosatu and AfriForum show the way: SA will not be the next Zimbabwe

If South Africa is to avoid becoming the next Zimbabwe, then a material role needs to be played by the powerful trade unions that are, even now, showing us the way forward.

Not for them the meek and mild acceptance of Eskom’s rate hikes, food price increases or even demands for arms to be offloaded in Durban harbour; they are in the face of those who are following the self-serving path, demanding that they fix the problem or face the backlash of South African labour.

What a breath of fresh air they are among the rhetoric and incompetence plaguing our nation right now. While we bemoan our fate and complain about everything being an exercise in futility, big labour has gone on the attack.

A prime example would be Jacob Zuma, the ANC president. Where those within the party believed he had been done and dusted after his sacking as deputy president, Cosatu had other ideas. Alongside the SACP and ANCYL, it hit back with a vengeance at Polokwane. It showed that democracy will have its way regardless of which organs of state the government throws at you.

The unthinkable need no longer be that. AfriForum (linked to Solidarity) entered the fray and helped South African Rugby avoid the menace of Mike Stofile, whose brother just happens to be the minister of sport.

All of this was achieved using the machinery available in terms of the laws of the country or, in the case of Cosatu, the rules and regulations governing the ruling party.

As I have pointed out repeatedly, it is to the ANC and the president’s eternal credit that they have subjected themselves to the Constitution and laws of our country as well as the intense scrutiny of the media, unlike in the majority of other African countries. They take it on the chin and emerge that much stronger for it.

A promising development is both Zuma and Julius Malema, the ANCYL president, giving their members who behaved atrociously in Bloemfontein a proper dressing-down, rather than trying to come up with a lame excuse for conduct unbecoming of the party or the country. This is where the ANC has to be headed. Throw in much more accountability, particularly among the senior leadership, and credibility will increase dramatically.

Incredibly I find myself in awe at the power of labour in South Africa — a force with the potential to bring about so much positive change. I say “incredibly”, because I grew up in the old South Africa, with my late dad vehemently opposed to big labour. He was a great man who taught us to resist racial or other prejudices at a time when the exact opposite was being forced down our throat by the state.

So if he was suspicious of labour, then who was I to argue?

Yet save for Cosatu’s ridiculous views on the cricket (beating Bangladesh, Pakistan and drawing with India, all away from home, is not good — it’s breathtakingly brilliant), there is hardly an issue where I can honestly say that I am in disagreement with its approach. Quite the contrary, most of the time I find myself endorsing its views and egging it on.

How proud I was of Popcru when it gave its views on what those who were suggesting the Zimbabwe arms be offloaded in Durban Harbour could do with themselves. AfriForum in turn was threatening protests on the same issue.

As we saw in the case of crime, AfriForum has tackled the government head-on. In addition to its ongoing campaign, it has sued the government for failing to protect its citizens as envisaged in the Constitution.

Again and again the trade unions of this country are demonstrating to us that South Africa can emerge stronger from the early days post-apartheid. Importantly for our fledgling democracy, they are doing it within the laws of the country.

People must start to open their eyes — everywhere you look there are South Africans taking active measures to build the country or help each other. We’ve had scuba divers raising money for abandoned children, South African rugby legends raising money to bring about real transformation among grassroots communities, big business assisting the government in establishing commercial crimes courts … the list is endless.

Within each and every South African there can be hope and potential as opposed to gloom and despair — that this country, post-apartheid, can rise up to become not only a rainbow nation but also a shining example of how multiculturalism can grow and prosper. *

(* Please note that if you support Manchester United, this is subject to strict testing by a psychiatric unit prior to being allowed out in public.)