r , * ',-,- - i i-.-- : ii ii i -ii,,,c - -. i - 198 Broadway * New York, N.Y. 10038 e (212) 962-1210 Tilden J. LeMelle, Chairman Jennifer Davis, Executive Director MEMORANDUM TO: Key Labor Contacts FROM: Mike Fleshman, Labor Desk Coordinator DATE: June 7, 1994 South Africa After Apartheid: A Whole New Ball Game, With Labor On The Team Friends, The victory parties are finally over and, in the wake of Nelson Mandela's landslide election as South Africa's first-ever Black President, South African workers are returning to their jobs and to the enormous challenges that lie ahead. For the 1.2 million-member Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), whose support for Mandela's ANC was critical to the movement's runaway 62.5 percent victory, the end of apartheid brings new opportunities for South African workers, but also some new problems. One result of the ANC victory is the presence of key labor leaders in the new government. Two high ranking unionists, former COSATU General Secretary Jay Naidoo, and former Assistant General Secretary Sydney Mufamadi, were named to cabinet posts -- Mufamadi as Minister of Safety and Security in charge of the police, and Naidoo as Minister Without Portfolio, tasked with implementing the ANC/COSATU blueprint for social change, the national Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). Former National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) economist Alec Erwin was named Deputy Minister for Finance. Former Mineworkers head Cyril Ramaphosa, elected General Secretary of the ANC in 1991, will exert great influence on the shape of the permanent new constitution as the chair of the parliamentary constitution-writing body. They are among 20 union leaders elected to the 400-member national parliament on the ANC slate. Many other unionists were elected to South Africa's nine new regional parliaments. The regional list includes Natal Metalworkers leaders Willies Mchunu, named Deputy Speaker of the KwaZulu/Natal provincial assembly; and Mike Mabuyakhulu, appointed that region's RDP coordinator. The presence of these "labor blocs" in the national and provincial parliaments, and the long alliance between the ANC and COSATU should give South African unions considerable influence over government policy in such key areas as labor, economic development and education and training policy. Adoption of the union-backed RDP as government policy by South African President Nelson Mandela is a testament to COSATU's status as a major political player in democratic South Africa. But the end of apartheid and the emergence of a power-sharing government of national unity, led by the ANC but including the former ruling "party of apartheid," the National Party, and Gatsha Buthelezi's right wing Inkatha Freedom Party, has introduced important new elements in the relationship between COSATU and the ANC. Striking public service workers have already been 1 Established by The American Committee on Africa, 1966 * Contributionsare tax-deductible threatened with mass dismissal by ANC "Premiers" (Governors) in three provinces, for instance, and both foreign and domestic business interests have begun to demand "wage restraint" as a condition for new investment. ANC agreement to reduce protective tariffs on a wide range of manufactured goods -- a condition for IMF and World Bank loans -- threatens union jobs in industries already hard hit by layoffs and plant closings. The "brain drain" from the union movement to the ANC that began with Ramaphosa's switch to the ANC and expanded with the release of senior labor leaders to the ANC election list, now threatens to become a flood as hundreds of skilled union officials are hired to staff the new government. Defining and managing this new relationship between old allies is an early challenge to leaders of both organizations. For its part, COSATU has accelerated plans to consolidate its base and train new leaders. In August, for example, South Africa's municipal and hospital workers unions will merge to form the second largest union in South Africa. When they are joined by the teachers union in October, this public sector giant will pass the mineworkers to become South Africa's single largest union. Expanded education and training programs are on the agenda of virtually every union of the country. With last month's election the struggle in South Africa shifts from political enfranchisement to economic empowerment, and the challenges ahead are daunting. Powerful commercial and political interests have targeted worker rights and workers' wages. Enormous pressure is being put on the Mandela government to go slow with fundamental social and economic change. Gross mismanagement and systematic racism have saddled the new government with outmoded plants, high illiteracy and disease rates and a financial gulf between privileged whites and poor Blacks that is the widest in the world. South Africa's labor movement is changing to meet the challenges of the new era. What has not changed is their need for our support and solidarity. The strong union-to-union and worker-to worker ties that developed between South African and U.S. labor during the campaign against apartheid should continue. As South Africa takes on the legacy of apartheid, their struggles come increasingly to look like our own -- for decent housing and schools, jobs and health care, fair wages and a decent contract. Americans have much to offer their South African sisters and brothers in the years ahead, and also much to learn. Let these common struggles and shared dreams form the new basis for U.S.- South Africa labor solidarity. South Africa's Democratic Government President: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (ANC) Executive Vice President: Thabo Mbeki (ANC) Second Vice President: F.W. de Klerk (NP) Final Election Results -- National Assembly Percentage of National Vote & Seat Allocations by Party: Total number of seats: 400 Total labor seats: 20 African National Congress: 62.65% -- 252 seats National Party: 20.39% -- 82 seats Inkatha Freedom Party: 10.54% -- 43 seats Freedom Front: 2.17% -- 9 seats Democratic Party: 1.73 % -- 7 seats Pan Africanist Congress: 1.25 % -- 5 seats African Christian Democratic Party: 0.45 % -- 2 seats Labor Leaders* In The National Assembly Cyril Ramaphosa -- National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Jay Naidoo -- COSATU Moses Mayekiso -- National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) Chris Dlamini -- Food and Allied Workers Union Philip Dexter -- National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union Alec Erwin -- NUMSA Susan Shabangu -- Transport and General Workers Union Gregory Rockman -- Police and Prison Civil Rights Union Shepard Madladlana -- South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) Randall van den Heever -- SADTU Marcel Golding -- National Union of Mineworkers Kgabisi Mosunkuntu -- Postal @ Telecommunications Workers Association John Coplyn -- South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union Duma Nkosi -- South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union Nkosinathi Nhleko -- Transport and General Workers Union Don Gumede -- Chemical Workers Industrial Union Elizabeth Thabethe -- CWIU Godfrey Oliphant Sydney Mufamadi -- COSATU Assistant General Secretary Salie Manie -- South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) * Labor leaders resigned their union positions to serve in government. Their former affiliations are listed. Senate Total Seats: 90 (ten per province) Total Labor Senators: 3 African National Congress -- 60 Seats National Party -- 17 Seats Inkatha Freedom Party -- 5 Seats Freedom Front -- 5 Seats Democratic Party -- 3 Seats Labor Leaders In The Senate Joyce Kgoali Rita Ndzanga Joe Foster -- NUMSA Labor Leaders In The Cabinet (Labor Members in Bold) Total Number of Cabinet Members: 28 Labor Ministers: 2 African National Congress (ANC) -- 19 Seats National Party (NP) -- 6 Seats Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) -- 3 Seats Justice Dullah Omar (ANC) Defence Joe Modise (ANC) Safety & Security Sydney Mufamadi (COSATU) Education Sibusiso Bengu (ANC) Trade, Industry & Tourism Trevor Manuel (ANC) Foreign Affairs Alfred Nzo (ANC) Labour Tito Mboweni (ANC) Posts, Telecommunications & Broadcasting Pallo Jordan (ANC) Health Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma (ANC)* Transport Mac Maharaj (ANC) Provincial Affairs & Constitutional Development Roelf Meyer (NP) Land Affairs Derek Hanekom (ANC) Public Enterprises Stella Sigcau (ANC)* Public Service & Admin. Zola Skweyiya (ANC) Housing Joe Slovo (ANC) Public Works Jeff Radebe (ANC) Correctional Services Sipho Mzimela (IFP) Finance Derek Keys (NP) Agriculture Kraai van Niekerk (NP) Sport & Recreation Steve Tshwete (ANC) Home Affairs Mangosuthu G. Buthelezi (IFP) Water Affairs & Forestry Kader Asmal (ANC) Environment Affairs Dawie de Villiers (NP) Mineral & Energy Affairs Pik Botha (NP) Welfare & Population Dvp Abe Williams (NP) Arts, Culutre, Science & Technology Ben Ngubane (IFP) Minister Without Portfolio Jay Naidoo (COSATU) Deputv Cabinet Ministers Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad (ANG) Provincial Affairs Valli Moosa (ANC) Justice Chris Fismer (NP) Home Affairs Penuell Maduna (ANC) Arts, Culture, Science & Technology Winnie Mandela (ANC)* Finance Alec Erwin (NUMSA) Welfare Sankie Nkondo (ANC) Environment Affairs Bantu Holomisa (ANC) Land Affairs Tobie Meyer (NP) Education Renier Schoeman (NP) Safety & Security Joe Matthews (IFP) Agriculture Thoko Msane (ANC).