COSATU Congress Kicks Off Without Mbeki
Tomorrow sees the start of the COSATU national congress and many are seeing it as being a watershed moment for Zuma with pro-Zuma COSATU Secretary General Zwelinzima Vavi set to butt heads against pro-Mbeki COSATU Chairman Willie Madisha. Most are predicting Vavi to come out on top although there is a good chance both men will be retained despite their relationship being described as nothing short of fundamentally broken.
But can there be a single bigger illustration of the Mbeki presidency than the fact that while COSATU argues and deliberates over whether to support him, he himself will be at the UN General Assembly where South Africa is expected to be elected to the Security Council and while that is important there is a reason we have a Minister of Foreign Affairs.
So instead of Mbeki taking the podium to deliver the main address at the COSATU congress which would have given him a prime opportunity to deliver his views to delegates and persuade them to be more on his side, Jacob Zuma will be giving the keynote address. Zuma will no doubt use the speech to lambast government’s response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the centralisation of power (although he was perfectly fine with them while he was in power) and generally rouse up some anti-Mbeki sentiment. I believe this is a wasted opportunity for Mbeki.