Zuma And COSATU: Who Is Playing Who?
Cosatu’s unquestioning support, however, deserves scrutiny. The hard and undeniable fact is that Zuma has never offered support to Cosatu on any major policy issue—not on HIV/Aids, the Zimbabwe debacle, macroeconomic policy, the fight against the neoliberal restructuring of the public sector or privatisation. Where was this “friend of the people” during those hard days? Not only was he silent in the often heated clashes between Cosatu and the government, but as the second-most senior leader of the ANC and government, he took major responsibility for those policies and their negative effects, including massive job losses.
We’ve discussed this before because it seems there’s a disconnect here and I have the feeling both sides are trying to take advantage of the other, or perhaps they are both in an understanding of some sort where both parties try to come out on top. COSATU have decided that they want ‘anyone but Mbeki’ in power and have chosen Zuma as their man because he enjoys some popular support and I would hazard to guess they believe he will be easily influenced to carry out their policies. Zuma has implicitly welcomed their support because it will help him get back in office, although it is unclear if he ever intends to return their favours.