Statement of the COSATU CEC held on 1 - 3 September 2008, COSATU House

The Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions held a scheduled meeting on 1-3 September 2008, attended by the National Office Bearers, representatives of all 22 affiliated unions and the COSATU provincial leadership. Among the many issues discussed were:

1. Taking forward the Organisational Development - Building the engines of COSATU

The CEC began a focused debate on the state of our organisation, in preparation for the forthcoming COSATU Congress scheduled for September 2009. To that end NALEDI and COSATU units have analysed answers to a questionnaire sent to all the affiliates. A synthesized report was considered by the CEC. It covered the following areas:

• Demarcation/progress towards ‘one industry, one union'
• Wage settlements and demands for 2008
• Bargaining structures
• Access to pension funds and medical aids
• Service to members
• Individual disputes and case handling
• Sectoral engagement
• Recruitment - targets and resourcing
• Management and staff, shop stewards and organisers
• Worker education
• Gender
• Financial management
• International work

The CEC welcomed the finding that membership has grown by 9% in the past three years, reversing a decline from 2003 to 2005. It was agreed however that the recruitment campaign has to be an ongoing process and that it has to be translated into stop orders.

It was agreed to take the report back to the affiliates for them to have more discussions with NALEDI. Moving forward, we shall organise a series of reference group discussions on specific themes that have emerged to ensure that the unions share many positive experiences and address weaknesses that flow from the survey. These themes shall amongst others on the following:

• Monitoring and improving case handling and service of members
• Introducing effective membership system that gives members profile on such things as education, race, gender, provincial spread, etc.
• Monitoring and implementing effective recruitment strategies
• Collective bargaining strategies in 2008 moving forward

2. Preparing for 10th National Congress

The 10th COSATU National Congress will be held on 20-23 September 2009 at Gallagher Estate, Midrand. The CEC agreed to the following framework proposals for the Congress:

1. Organisational focus

• Assessment of the 2015 Plan
• OD work based on discussions in the CEC
• Recruitment campaign
• Service to members

2. Political challenges

• Assessment of the 2009 elections
• Alliance programme of action and the Pact
• Socialism and the NDR

3. International

• Globalisation today and its implications to our NDR
• Climate change - what does it mean to development
• WTO
• Analysing the international balance of forces with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia and China

4. Socio-economic issues

• Progress in achieving the goal of ensuring that the second decade of democracy benefits more the workers and the poor in economic terms
• Assessing progress in realising the goal of halving unemployment and poverty in 2014
• Assessing progress we are making in realising the millennium development goals

3. The Campaign against the falling living standards of South Africans

3.1 Section 77 on the electricity crises

The CEC congratulated the members of the federation, all the civil society formations, including other trade unions and the Alliance, on the successful programme of rolling mass action in protest against the NERSA decision to impose a combined 27.5% electricity tariff increase, with a further 20-25% a year between 2009 and 2011.

The country witnessed one of the biggest socio-economic protests in recent history. Provincial actions that began on 9 July, 16 July and 23 July culminated in the 6 August national stayaway. Throughout the campaign the country came to a standstill and sent a clear message to the government and employers that COSATU was serious about its demands on the electricity crisis and that we can live up to our promises. We have demanded that the working class and the poor must not be made to bear the brunt of the electricity crisis and the mistakes committed by some government Ministers.

The success of these actions inspired confidence not only in our members but also the nation as a whole. COSATU has undoubtedly earned its stripes in the battlefield, touched the central nerve of the nation and reaffirmed its role as the conscience of the nation and the voice of the most marginalised sections of our population.

The meeting agreed that we must build on this success and use it as a lever to multiply our political gains in the ongoing engagements with government and business. The success of this campaign must also be measured against its own objectives, which were articulated in the Section 77 notice we submitted to NEDLAC. As things stands now most of our demands have not been met.

We are now engaging in NEDLAC. Both BUSA and COSATU agreed that tariff increases should be harmonised to prevent municipalities generating additional income on top of tariffs. We have set up a meeting with SALGA to demand that municipalities play a proactive role in addressing the needs of the poor, working poor and pensioners.

COSATU has written a joint letter with BUSA requesting to meet with the Minister of Finance to discuss the proposed 2C levy/Kwh, which is to be implemented in October. This would increase tariffs by a further 10% in one year and undermine the principle of smoothing increases as agreed in the Energy Summit.

The CEC welcomed the government's agreement not only to fund the R60bn needed for a capitalisation project but also their agreement to implement the payment process more quickly than was originally announced. Labour and business however want the R60bn be a grant and not a loan. In addition to this COSATU want government to release more resources so that the country is saved from having to pay the 27, 5% tariffs hikes already implemented on 1st July and the further tariffs hikes of between 20% - 25% to be introduced between 2009 and 2011.

We welcomed the commitment made by the employers to work with labour to avoid job losses associated with the electricity crises. In this regard we have made a call on the unions to identify areas where job losses as a result of the electricity crises have been reported in the sectors they organise so that we can engage BUSA.

Moving forward COSATU will continue with focused mass action, particularly against the 2c levy, with pickets and sit-ins at Eskom and government offices. We call on our provincial and local structures as well as civil society formations that form part of the jobs and poverty coalition, as well as others who supported our demands to continue putting Eskom, government and employers under pressure. We shall continue to engage BUSA, and the Ministries of Finance and Minerals and Energy on our remaining demands.

3.2 Section 77 on food and fuel prices

We are still involved in a debate with employers and government on the Section 77 notice we submitted on the important question of the food prices. These negotiations are continuing. A task team was established to close the gaps between all parties. We have made a number of important breakthroughs through a combination of negotiations and employment of mass action to back our demands. Below we outline the gains and progress thus far:

• There is an agreement at the task team level on the establishment of the multi stakeholder structure similar to the National Electricity Advisory Council to monitor food prices. This is in response to our demand for price regulation.
• There is an agreement that a market enquiry along the same lines as the banking industry enquiry be established. This inquiry will start soon and complete its work within six months.
• Government has committed to increase the value of social grants but regrettably it has not indicated by how much and when this increase will be effected.
• Government has committed to extend child support grant as follows:
  1. 14 - 16 years in October 2008
  2. 16 - 18 years in April 2009
• Government has committed to expand the school-feeding scheme.
• Government has committed to increasing the value and the number of household receiving starter packs from R8 000 to R10 000 and from 70 000 households to 140 000 households.
• Government has committed to embark on other supply side interventions include the following:

1. Development of an agricultural trade and tariff policy to protect the sector

2. Rehabilitation of railway lines to support transportation of grains

3. Engaging input suppliers like Sasol and FOSKOR (i.e. fertilisers) with the view of lowering input costs

4. Ilima/Letsema Campaign to ensure an increase in agricultural production

5. Strengthening the SMMEs and Cooperatives

• The task team has agreed that government must increase expenditure towards agricultural support by 10% of the budget in line with Maputo Declaration. Government is currently spending 6.5%.
• The task team also agreed that there must be an increase in expenditure in research and road infrastructure; improve post-settlement support; and revitalisation of extension services in the former homelands.

We have not made progress on other issues. Government is toing and froing on the issue of zero-rating further basic foodstuffs. The DoA proposed to cabinet that sorghum flour, chicken and baby food be included in the zero-rated list. Treasury then contended that zero-rating chicken would cause a revenue loss of about R4 billion and that the poor would not benefit and advised the DoA to remove chicken from the proposed list and use the revenue that would have been lost to chicken zero-rating to support small farmers.

We shall soon be declaring a deadlock over important issues where no progress is being made. We shall continue with focused mass action against food retailers and manufacturers, and will decide in the next CEC on 24-26 November 2008 whether to take further strike action or not in pursuance of the remaining demands.

4. Assessment of the Alliance Summit

The CEC agreed that Alliance Summit on 9-10 May this year was highly successful. It convinced all those who participated that our efforts to agitate for a change in leadership and direction of the ANC were not in vain. But a meeting only becomes historic if its conclusions are taken forward. So far the Alliance has not moved fast enough to implement the decisions and at all times in particular to live by the spirit of the Summit.

The Alliance NOBs will meet on 9 September to receive a report from the Alliance Secretariat and the sub committees established to prepare for the Economic Summit. They will also debate other issues referred to them by the Summit.

The Alliance Summit decided that, as part of a conscious effort to reconnect with the mass formations and our people, a conference will be convened with the formations that constitute the mass democratic movement to evaluate how we have worked together since the democratic breakthrough. This summit will now be on 13-14 September. Its primary intention will be to achieve:

a) Reconnecting with the mass formations.

b) Briefing each other about progress and challenges that lie ahead.

c) Closing the gaps by creating a platform for constructive criticism and to raise concerns

d) Re-building a mass base for the transformation project based on a programme of action by and for the masses themselves

The Alliance Summit recognised that the respective national conferences of Alliance formations narrowed policy gaps. A top-level Alliance Conference on Economic Policy will be held on 3-5 October 2008 to look at the South Africa's development path and, in that context, deal with the following five priorities:
a) Crime
b) Creation of decent work / job creation
c) Education
d) Health
e) Land and agrarian transformation and food security
The CEC deployed CEC delegates to the ANC NEC sub-committees. The CEC will further revisit the decision to consider forming the CEC subcommittees, mainly on socio economic issues, so that interaction with the Alliance and national policy can be enhanced.

5. The current post-Polokwane political situation

The CEC debated the current political environment and characterised it as being muddied and clumsy. Our overall responsibility is to defend the democratic gains of workers made, including the left-leaning shifts in policy emanating from the Polokwane resolutions. These gains include, but are not limited to:

1. A constructive environment for engagement and policy debates, as opposed to the acrimonious public spats of the past, and an end to the use of labels to silence political opponents within the Alliance.
2. A progressive policy platform from Polokwane, the January 8 statement, ANC Lekgotla, and Alliance Summit.
3. A process to develop an Alliance Programme of Action that, if managed strategically, will go a long way to meet our demand for an Alliance Pact or Alliance agreement on governance.
4. The Alliance Summit decision that that the Alliance as a whole is a strategic political centre and the agreement that the Alliance will form part of the deployment committees, thereby addressing a demand of COSATU. This principled agreement is absolutely important even though it must still be given a practical meaning in all processes.
5. Opening of the economic debate, which will lead to the Alliance Economic Policy Conference on 2-3 October. COSATU now participates in a number of key ANC NEC sub committees and its ability to influence government policy has accordingly increased.
6. Opening of a space to debate issues without any fear by all citizens and organisations. Regrettably this debate is largely not focused on answering a question - what is to be done to address the high unemployment, poverty and growing inequalities.
7. The masses of the people have used the space to agitate and mobilise around their issues as demonstrated by the increased participation in the recent and ongoing COSATU campaigns to protect and enhance the standards of living of all South Africans
8. Parliamentarians are reasserting their authority and increasingly holding the executive to account on behalf of the population. The days of sycophancy belong to the past. This is a completely new environment, with MPs meeting their constitutional obligation for a separation of powers between the executive and parliament even in the context of the ANC being the governing party. This has strengthened democracy.
9. Linked to this re-emergence of a vibrant and dynamic parliament, the Money Bill has been introduced so that parliament may amend all money bills. This satisfies COSATU's historic demand and meets the constitutional obligation.
10. Passing amendments to the Broadcasting Amendment Act that will address our demand for the replacement of the current SABC Board with a new more representative board.
11. The agreement with the ANC not to proceed with a number of bills which were being rushed through parliament by some ministers on the eve of elections without sufficient consultations with stakeholders including the Alliance.
12. The dismissal of non-performing premiers, which hopefully will go a long way to communicate a message that in future deployment will no longer be based on loyalty alone but on capacity to deliver. We however noted that there was not sufficient consultation on replacements.

Having said this, and after acknowledging the progress we are making to realise the objectives of our 2015 Plan to strengthen COSATU and the workers voice and to build the Alliance, the CEC acknowledged that it has also a responsibility not only to its members but to the broader society.

COSATU seeks to lead not itself but society as a whole. The Alliance seeks to lead society to the realisation our people's historic demand for a creation of a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa. Whilst we must defend our democratic gains, we at the same time have an obligation to act in a manner that seeks to unite the whole country and allay the fears of all our people including the minorities. The political environment remains fluid and some of the gains we have made remain only tentative and are not legislated. Problems remain in the following areas:

1. Insufficient cohesion within the Alliance. On occasions this has led to petty squabbles and contests for positions, as showed by the contests in both the ANCYL and ANCWL national conferences.
2. The Jacob Zuma saga continues to be an area of contestation and divisions. Divisions in some of our organisations mirror divisions in society.
3. The media hysteria about the perceived threat to the independence of the judiciary, constitutional democracy and basic freedoms. A responsible movement that seeks to unite the country must be seen to going out of its way to assure all that the threat does not exist, as the ANC Deputy President and others have begun to do.
4. The growing uneasiness of some prominent individuals, intellectuals, clergy and minorities, even within the movement, voicing discontent about what they perceive to be a threat to our basic freedoms, questioning the moral standing of the current ANC and Alliance leadership and painting a negative picture about the current conjuncture.
5. The ugly contest for leadership in some ANC regions and provinces, notably the Northern Cape and North West, which were on occasions violent and a public embarrassment.

Informed by the above the CEC agreed that we need to plan to consolidate the hegemony of the working class within the ANC and society, while assuaging the concerns of minorities and some prominent citizens who have voiced concerns about perceived threats to constitutional structures, by presenting our real views as opposed to the distortions peddled by the media. We are already involved in a number of engagements around this matter. This engagement will continue.

COSATU is extremely worried that the public discourse is not based on what the country must do to address unemployment, poverty and growing inequalities. The public debates are largely dominated by the perceived threat to constitutional democracy. Whilst we believe that there is no such threat, we however acknowledge that we have a responsibility to allay fears and address specific concerns raised in this debate.

6. Support for the ANC President

The CEC reiterated COSATU's historic positions and demands as outlined by the COSATU congresses. We welcome the recent debates, including sentiments expressed by a growing number of business personalities and others, including recently by the ANC, that justice will be not served by pursuing the ANC President in Court. This matter is no longer in the interest of South Africa.

In saying this we are not seeking to undermine the independence of the judiciary and we are not seeking to communicate a message that the ANC President is above the law and should not be held to account in the courts of the land. We are communicating feelings of not only our members but of what we believe are the views of the majority in our society. COSATU believes that ANC President has been treated unfairly and is the victim of machinations to stop him initially from being the President of the ANC and now from being the President of the Republic of South Africa.

The CEC reiterated this belief based on this history:

1. We believe that if there was a case against Jacob Zuma he should have been charged way back in 1999 and/or 2000 when the NPA started to leak information in the media that he was being investigated. Through the delay in charging him whilst effectively conducting a media trial through systematic leaks to the media, the NPA grossly acted unfairly and prejudiced ANC President in the eyes of many. The fact that the state took so many years to investigate whilst leaking information to the media made many to start asking a basic question - why is the man not being charged so that he may have the opportunity to defend himself in the court of law? This unfair treatment made workers argue correctly and consistently that justice delayed is justice denied.

2. The decision to prosecute comrade Jacob Zuma was selective. The very people pushing for prosecution have opposed COSATU's call for a full judicial inquiry into the arms deal to identify all those who may have been involved in corruption. Only comrade Jacob Zuma has been targeted.

3. We believe it was wrong for the investigators to launch a media trial by leaking information in their hands to media instead of approaching courts to seek a conviction. The media have seized on these leaks to create the impression that he is already guilty as charged.

4. We believe it was wrong for the then NPA Director (Bulelani Ngcuka) to convene an off- the- record media briefing with certain black journalists, thereby launching a media trial with an intention of winning a public opinion instead of approaching the courts to seek a conviction if he really believed in his information.

5. We believe it was wrong for the former NPA Director (Bulelani Ngcuka) flanked by the then Justice Minister (Pennuell Maduna) to effectively declare comrade Jacob Zuma guilty of corruption when he said in 2003 that there was a "prima facie" case for charging Jacob Zuma, but that he would not be charged because the case would be unwinnable. In our view they should have kept quiet rather that let Zuma hang in the court of public opinion.

6. We believe it was wrong not to charge Jacob Zuma alongside Shabir Shaik, considering that the two were supposed to be in cahoots.

7. We believe it was wrong for Zuma to be dismissed as the Deputy President before he has been convicted in the court of law. We saw this as a political justification to satisfy what we have now come to believe to be part of a concerted campaign to deal with an individual.

8. We reacted with anger when the NPA raided his and his lawyers' houses, frantically trying to find evidence two months after it decided to charge him. We argued that in a normal case, investigators investigate, and take their evidence to court. In this case they charged and then investigated. We saw this as political justification for his dismissal.

9. We nevertheless accompanied him to court in June/July 2006 only to find out that the NPA was not ready to proceed with the trial. This was on the sixth year after the NPA started investigating him and leaking information in its possession to the media. When Judge Qedusisi Msimang in the Pietermaritzburg High Court struck the case from the roll of the court in September 2006 and made the criticism he made against the NPA we felt vindicated. Many have chosen to ignore the criticism Judge Msimang made.

10. Ever since then, the NPA has been arguing that their case depends upon the evidence seized in these raids conducted in August 2006 which was two months after he had been charged and dismissed. Yet all during the Shabir Shaik trial and at the time of him being dismissed and charged we were told that the state has enough evidence. This simply deepened our suspicions of a political trial.

11. Other recent developments, including the ‘Special Browse Mole Report', the unresolved emails saga and the suspension of Vusi Pikoli, all of which further point to the fact that the state institutions were being used to fight factional political battles within the ANC and the Alliance.

12. The so-called coincidence of announcing the charging of the ANC President on the day he was elected simply deepened the sentiment that here we are dealing with a case of persecution of the individual which has nothing to do with the purported pursuance of justice.

13. The latest proposal - to begin the trial in April 2009, ten years after the NPA started their investigation, and on the eve of the elections - smacks even more strongly of a political manoeuvre to discredit ANC President with allegations of corruption just when he is leading the ANC into its election campaign. The message seem to be very clear to ANC members - ‘you should have not have exercised your democratic right to elect this man'

The recent saga wherein Charles Modise is now claiming to have been pressurised by Willie Madisha and Philip Dexter to implicate the SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande, and many other things that have happened to other individual leaders, confirm our view that state institutions have from time to time been employed to deal with individuals.

Based on the above beliefs, now shared by the majority in our society, we objected to the charges he faced. We stated above that we see the charges as forming part of the concerted campaign to persecute and not prosecute. This we say not as an expression of lack of confidence in the judiciary but in defence of the rights of the individual that we believe have been violated.

We share the concern of a growing number that this trial will not serve the best interests of South Africa. The state is spending millions of rands of South African taxpayers' money to pursue a case of an alleged R500 000 bribe. When the state was presented with the opportunity to prove this allegation in Pietermaritzburg High Court in September 2006 it said it did not have sufficient evidence to do so.

The CEC mandated the leadership of the federation to engage society and its leadership on why we believe that no justice will be served by pursuing the case against the ANC President. We shall in the next period engage government, Alliance formations, civil society and business to express this sentiment.

The CEC decided that when Judge Chris Nicholson delivers his judgment in Pietermaritzburg on 12 September 2008 on Jacob Zuma's application for a stay of prosecution, all CEC members will join the mass protest and that protests should be held around the country at NPA offices, etc.

The legal team of the ANC President has already indicated that should Judge Nicholson not rule in their favour they will petition for the permanent stay of prosecution on the basis that the ANC President would not receive a fair trial and this would be heard on 27-28 November. COSATU fully supports this application for permanent stay of prosecution.

The meeting decided that there should be sustained protest mass actions throughout October. The affiliates and provinces will canvass member's views on the proposals to hold a two-day strike on the 27-28 November 2008 in protest against the continuing persecution of the ANC President.

COSATU, together with other civil society organisations may apply to be amicus curiae on 27-28 November, to give evidence in support of Jacob Zuma's case that he will not be able to receive a fair trial. The CEC noted that this hearing could lead to the exposure of the truth behind the arms deal, which could implicate a number of other personalities not currently charged.

We shall also support the MKVA's 35966 SMS campaign in support of the call for dropping the charges in the belief that the ANC President's rights have been trampled upon and that he will not receive a free trial.

6. Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provincial governments

The CEC welcomed the removal of Eastern Cape Premier Comrade Nosimo Balindlela, though COSATU, SACP the MKVA amongst others were unhappy with the appointment of Mbulelo Sogoni. COSATU will however work with the new Premier to ensure that the problems of lack of service delivery are addressed.

In the case of the Western Cape, there was inadequate consultation of the Alliance on the replacement of Ebrahim Rasool with Lynne Brown and the major reshuffling of the executive, leading to at least three former MEC resigning or getting the chop and with all others appointed to new positions.
Despite this, COSATU will work to ensure that in line with the spirit of the Alliance Summit all future major changes in government are properly canvassed within the Alliance. We shall work with the new Premier to improve service to our people.

7. Walking through open doors

The May CEC approved the "Walking through the open doors project" and created a vacancy, filled by Neil Coleman. This work is now well underway. Two meetings of the economics reference team have taken place and the CEC welcomed the initiative with enthusiasm. COSATU will hold a press briefing in the next two to three weeks to fully brief the media on the details of the initiative.

8. The 2009 elections

The CEC resolved to adopt a strong line to ensure that COSATU's views are incorporated into the ANC election manifesto, in line with the 9th Congress resolution and then wage a campaign to convince our members that they have good reasons to back the ANC. COSATU members will never again be taken for granted as voting fodder.

9. Media

The CEC has welcomed the passing by the National Assembly of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill that allows parliament to dismiss the SABC Board. We urge the NCOP and the President to also pass it and Parliament then to appoint a new, more representative Board.

The CEC endorsed a statement by the Free State PEC, on 16 August 2008, which declared: "We have taken note of the recent spate of attacks which have been launched against our General Secretary, which even intend to question his bona fides to the struggle as well as to assassinate his character. The campaign seeks to identify our General Secretary and some of our leaders at other levels as a very unreasonable rebel who cannot be trusted. We therefore declare as follows: that Cde Zwelinzima Vavi was elected by our 9th National Congress and he is mandated by the said Congress as well as other constitutional structures which followed to represent the federation."

The CEC noted the recent succession of highly personalised, some even libellous, attacks on the COSATU General Secretary, notably in Business Day, the Sowetan and the Sunday Times, all, not coincidentally, owned by the same company, Avusa. This smacks of a coordinated, organised campaign to demonise the General Secretary and thus discredit the Federation. In a way it is a backhanded compliment, as it must have been prompted by the success of our mass action campaign in July and August, which obviously rang alarm bells in the boardrooms of big business.

These attacks also reflect the deep social divide over the Jacob Zuma controversy. The Sunday Times and City Press in particular condemn him while characterising those who support him as stupid and dangerous demagogues.

In addition to immediate responses to these articles, the CEC agreed to a strategy to wage a counter-offensive, not only to these particular attacks but the daily bias against workers and the left that always pervades the media.
Amongst other proposals it was agreed that we must try to counter the false but widely punted accusation that we are obsessed with the Jacob Zuma issue and keep focusing on jobs and poverty, service delivery, education, health, HIV/Aids, crime etc. This will be especially important in the run-up to and during the election campaign.

There will continue to be some cases where editors simply refuse to provide space, or enough space, for our response to an article, or to publish a retraction, when we have to seek external help. The Press Ombudsman (currently Joe Thloloe) has tended to rule in favour of the media but despite this we must complain more to the ombudsman, as we have done over the recent articles in the Sowetan and Sunday Times, keep knocking at his door and insist that he play his proper role.

10. National Health Insurance

The CEC reaffirmed its long-standing demand for the introduction of the National Health Insurance scheme, in line with our congress resolutions and ANC conference resolutions. COSATU has established the task team on NHI to focus on three main issues:

• Consolidating the COSATU position on NHI.
• Developing the funding models of the NHI.
• Co-ordinating COSATU campaign on the implementation of NHI.

The task team developed the terms of reference for consultants who are going to develop the funding models for NHI and look at the case studies of other developing countries.

The CEC debated a passionate plea by the chairperson of SAMA that COSATU CEC should lead by example and resign from their medical aid schemes and demand introduction of a health tax so that the country moves to the NHI with speed that the national health crisis demands. The CEC members agreed to consider this call, including the call that the COSATU leaders, parliamentarians, cabinet, Alliance leaders, etc. should no longer use private clinics and private hospitals but the public hospitals which currently serve more than 42 million of the 47 million South African population.

The majority of South Africans have to put up with awful conditions in the hospitals, whilst a small elite, which includes the members of the medical aid schemes, enjoys benefits of private health care. It is this situation that has delayed the introduction of the NHI to address the appalling state of our public hospitals, as the leadership does not feel the pain of standing in long queues and dingy public hospitals.

11. HIV/AIDS

COSATU will work with the Treatment Action Committee, the SA National Aids Council, business and the rest of civil society for a month of action at workplaces and in communities in support of HIV prevention and treatment during the month of November, culminating in a 30-minutes national work stoppage on 1 December - World Aids Day. During the month of November COSATU will embark on the following programme:

• Ensure that there is an intense focus on the prevention message
• Distribute 1,5 million pamphlets through affiliates
• Train shop stewards to be home-based care givers and counsellors
• Distribute condoms and femidoms en masse
• Initiate the collect a can campaign
• Distribute the NEDLAC and ILO codes
• Participate effectively in the 14 days of activism against women and children abuse

12. Zimbabwe and Swaziland

The CEC endorsed COSATU's strong stance on Zimbabwe, where the 29 March elections saw a historic defeat by combined MDC factions, even though no party received the outright majority of more than 50%, thus forcing a presidential run-off election on 27 June under a cloud of serious controversy.

The post-March 29 political environment was characterised by intensified brutality and persecution of the people by state agents and ZANU-PF. This led to the MDC's decision to withdraw from the run-off. Whereas the ZEC spent weeks to announce the March election results, this time the elections were announced the next day and Mugabe was sworn in, despite the SADC, Pan African Parliament and the AU observer missions declaring the election not free and fair.

COSATU has written letters to several influential organisations and people, including former President Mandela, Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu and all trade union federations in Southern Africa, not to recognise Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe, for stealing elections in that country.

We have met with the leadership of ZCTU from Zimbabwe and SFTU/SFL of Swaziland to discuss the issues arising in these two countries and plan a line of march, including blockades and targeted sanctions against goods destined for Zimbabwe and Swaziland on selected days of action. Further it was agreed that we must refuse to serve the two leaders, particularly in our own country.

COSATU took this process forward at the SATUCC Executive Council meeting in Botswana, which called for the formation of a SATUCC Solidarity Committee and tighter co-ordination of campaigns in the region. The ZCTU General Council said it supported boycotts of goods and services by COSATU with the exception of medicines. The CEC agreed to discuss this further before agreeing to dates.

Swaziland is holding elections on 19 September under the tinkhundla system that bans political parties and criminalises all forms of political activity, marches, demonstrations and protests. The king has set aside R70 million for celebrations of his birthday and the 40th anniversary of independence, despite the poverty and the crisis into which the royal family has plunged the country. He has also introduced a new law to allow the army to sleep in people's houses and search randomly for arms and intensified the state of emergency that has ruled the country since 1973.

A new front to bring together all progressive organisations - the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) - has been formed. This is a giant step in the right direction and allows the global progressive movement to support a united people.

The CEC agreed to organise demonstrations in support of democracy in Swaziland at the South Africa border on 18 September and to plan a week-long trade boycott and refusal to handle goods from and to Zimbabwe and Swaziland from 27 October-1 November.

13. World trade talks

The mini-ministerial held from 21 July 2008 in Geneva resulted in the collapse of world trade talks. A number of fundamental issues on agriculture and non-agricultural issues could not be agreed to. Several attempts by developed countries to bully the rest of the world into accepting what clearly was not a developmental outcome failed dismally.

While the US and EU continue to blame developing countries for the collapse of talks, the Doha Round will never succeed unless the agriculture and NAMA proposals no longer place the cost of the round on developing countries. While the EU and US refuse to remove their overall trade distorting support for agriculture, they wanted developing countries to cut more tariffs, expose their labour-intensive manufacturing sectors and lead to massive job losses.

It appears that the unity of the ITUC is threatened by the WTO. There were hardly any trade unionists from the developed nations in the talks and a few days after the collapse, the European Metalworkers Federation issued a joint statement with their employer counterpart, effectively congratulating their governments and blaming the collapse of the talks on the developing nations.

The NAMA 11 unions in the developing countries are writing a protest letter to all the affiliates of the ITUC. Our affiliates were urged to take the issue up with unions in their sectors.

Statement issued by the COSATU Central Executive Committee September 4 2008