Cosatu postpones 15th national congress after delegates withhold credentials

Cosatu has postponed its 15th National Congress after the gathering failed to reach the quorum required to proceed, following a standoff over the status of the federation’s deputy president, Mike Shingange.

The federation says it will set out the reasons for the postponement at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The congress, held in Johannesburg, was meant to elect new leadership. Shingange was expected to stand for the position of Cosatu president. eNCA reported on Wednesday that his candidacy was set aside after his own union, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU), suspended him.

That suspension set off the standoff. Unions and delegates who back Shingange withheld their credentials, and without them the congress could not assemble the numbers it needed to carry on.

Cosatu had entered the week with a legal opinion in hand. That opinion, the federation said, left Shingange free to contest the presidency.

What the federation has said, and what it has not

Cosatu’s public position so far is that the reasons for the postponement will be explained at the Wednesday briefing. The federation has not yet said when the congress will be reconvened, whether the legal opinion on Shingange’s eligibility still stands, or what the withheld credentials mean for the congress once it resumes.

Those are the questions the briefing is expected to address.

Why it matters beyond the congress hall

Cosatu is the largest trade union federation in the country and a partner in the governing alliance. Its congress is where the federation elects the people who will speak for its affiliates in wage talks, in policy engagements with government, and in the broader political conversation.

A postponed congress leaves those positions unfilled for now. It also leaves the dispute over Shingange’s status unresolved, which means the same question that stalled the congress in Johannesburg is the question that will sit in front of delegates when they meet again.

For ordinary members, the practical effect is a delay in the leadership that negotiates on their behalf. For the federation’s affiliates, it is a delay in settling a disagreement that has already shown it can stop the federation’s highest decision-making body from sitting.

The state of play

What is confirmed is the postponement, the failure to reach quorum, the withheld credentials, and the Wednesday briefing. What is not confirmed is the date of any reconvened congress, the outcome of the dispute over Shingange, or how the federation intends to resolve the impasse between the unions that withheld their credentials and the structures that suspended him.

Cosatu has handled contested internal questions before, and its rules provide for how disputes between affiliates are resolved. The test now is whether those rules can settle this one quickly enough for the congress to do the work it was called to do.

The Enquirer has asked Cosatu for the date of the reconvened congress and for confirmation of whether the legal opinion on Shingange’s eligibility remains in force. We will report the answers when the federation responds.

Source: eNCA, Cosatu postpones congress amid leadership tensions