By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — Sam Shilowa, general secretary of the 1.4 million-member Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), has described South African employers' resistance to COSATU-organised voter education on the shop floor as "hypocrisy".
Shilowa said that the bosses' organisation SACCOLA refused to give shop stewards paid time off to teach workers how to vote by hiding behind the excuse of "neutrality". Yet bosses allow National Party and right-wing parties to campaign at workplaces and farms while refusing to allow the African National Congress access to workers.
Shilowa, speaking on March 8, called for the intervention of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). He added that COSATU may be forced to take widespread industrial action to win workers' rights to voter education and to hear the views of all parties.
Negotiations with SACCOLA began in September, but all COSATU has got is "vague statements that they support the need [for voter education]" and refusal to allow COSATU to conduct it. COSATU is not opposed to NGOs conducting voter education if workers prefer that, but they must be allowed to choose. "There are workers who want to have voter education conducted by COSATU, conducted by their shop stewards, because these are the people that they know", Shilowa said.
"Refusing to release shop stewards on paid time off, refusing to allow voter education to take place on the shop floor, is saying [employers] enjoy the status quo, that it is not their fault that our people cannot read or write, that our people have never voted before."
COSATU is especially concerned about farm workers. Shilowa likens their conditions to slavery. Until just this year, farm workers did not have the labour rights enjoyed by other workers. Most have not even experienced a vote in a union election or meeting.
The apartheid regime for decades protected farm owners with a range of repressive laws that prevented access to farm workers by unions. "We want voter education to teach people how to exercise their democratic rights", Shilowa said.
Farmers, notably in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, refuse to allow the ANC to campaign on their farms. The national farmers' organisation, the South African Agricultural Union (SAAU), has refused to release shop stewards to conduct voter education. The leaderships of the Transvaal Agricultural Union and the Orange Free State Agricultural Union are openly aligned to the far right Afrikaner Volksfront.
The National Party has unrestricted access to farm workers. Farmers have been discovered handing out 10 rand notes, or a free meal, to workers who attend NP rallies, as well as providing transport.
Shilowa demanded that the IEC "show that they are committed to ensuring free and fair elections. Free and fair elections mean that those who are being held hostage by the slave-masters should be allowed to vote. They won't be able to vote if we don't go in there to conduct voter education."
Shilowa said that if farmers refuse COSATU's access to farm workers to conduct voter education — as is its right under the electoral act — the IEC should "cut the red tape" and initiate prosecutions.
Despite the obstacles thrown up by the employers, Shilowa said that COSATU is very active in voter education. "So far about 77 workers' forums, with more than 126,000 workers participating, have heard the simple message — teach one, reach one. Those who know how to vote teach others how to vote. And once you have been taught, you teach the next person."
COSATU is to focus on rural areas until the elections. "We are going to send senior leadership into the Transkei to mobilise workers to vote for the ANC and also to conduct voter education. We will be sending people to the northern Transvaal. I myself will spend about two weeks in that area, going from factory to factory, village to village, ensuring there are people who can continue the voter education tasks."
Former COSATU general secretary and ANC candidate Jay Naidoo on March 15 expressed fears that workers in KwaZulu especially would be denied access to voter education. Following a meeting with the IEC, he said that voter education and political canvassing were being prevented in shops, farms and mines in the region.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) has secured an agreement from the South African vehicle industry that the industry shut down for five days during the election period in late April. NUMSA said it believed the shutdown would ensure maximum voter turnout. Production would be rescheduled to make up for time lost on March 25, 26, 28 and 29. April 27 is a public holiday. A further day off will coincide with the announcement of the election results.