Cosatu/Numsa Split Indicative of Deeper Structural Problems in SA Trade Union Sector
Channel: SACSIS
Date: 2014-11-12

In March 2012, five months before the Marikana massacre exposed the internal weaknesses of the South African trade union sector, SACSIS' Fazila Farouk interviewed labour expert, Ighsaan Schroeder who said that Cosatu was well on its way to demise and could collapse within a mere 15 years due to serious structural weaknesses in the trade union sector. Soon after the Marikana massacre Schroeder revised his prediction saying that Cosatu would cease to exist in five years. Well, two years later, Cosatu has expelled its largest affiliate Numsa and its unravelling is taking place faster than any of us could have imagined.

SACSIS caught up with Schroeder again this week. He maintains that alliance politics is a mere cover for bigger problems facing the labour movement.

Ighsaan Schroeder is the Co-ordinator of the Casual Workers’ Advice Office. Fazila Farouk is the executive director of SACSIS.