Once again we read of a mouthpiece union threatening to go against its master, the ANC, over the retrenchment of a reported 30,000 public servants in a cost-cutting exercise over the next three years. The ANC and Cosatu’s relationship has been very cosy up to now, with Cosatu having campaigned hard for the governing party before the past few elections. But now Cosatu’s ability to lobby its members to vote for the ANC is minimal, and the ANC knows this. While Cosatu still has some members who are for the workers, many trade union leaders are political leaders in their own capacities, which is against the interest of the workers and becomes a challenge when bargaining with government. These leaders still need the ANC, to get the pay-off of being in Cabinet or Parliament. The workers, who once fought together against common enemies, are now fighting each other. As Cosatu and the SACP started donating leaders to the ANC for prominent positions they started digging their own graves and l...
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