Spaces of Hope: Rethinking Trade Union–Community Alliances and Citizenship in a Post-alliance Era in South Africa

Abstract

A critical debate in contemporary post-1994 South Africa is the extent to which organised labour can join forces with community-based movements to construct coalitions which might be called ‘spaces of hope’ where policies more conducive to constructing an egalitarian society can be pursued. Using three organisations: the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and Housing Assembly (HA) in Cape Town, this paper will explore coordinated labour–community interactions. It advances a new analytical framework for thinking about ways in which the poor in South Africa are mobilised to actualise their rights. In the new political and trade union landscape (post-Marikana and post-Numsa's historical decision to dissociate from the ANC)—what I term the ‘post-alliance landscape’—new repertoires of protest and participation linked to national formations (such as Numsa who have called for a united front of the poor and working class leading to a new left party) are emerging. These emerging repertoires might help in promoting ‘shared spaces of citizenship’ where common issues and a feeling of shared fate can arise among sections of the broader oppressed. This paper will further suggest that while the social movement left criticises neo-liberalism, they have unwittingly helped the neol-iberals because of their frequently ‘misplaced criticism’ of the trade unions and their attachments to specific organisational principles.

Notes

1. Spaces of Hope is the title of David Harvey's 1998 book which explores ‘the terms and spaces of political struggles' in what he terms ‘extraordinary times'.

2. Like Marikana in South Africa, Nigeria and North Africa revolts have been either backed by or led by organised labour. The 2012 uprising that shook Nigeria was against attempt by the Federal Government which tried to ‘liberalise’ petrol pump prices (more than doubling the price). Met with unprecedented resistance, reminiscent of the ‘Arab Spring’, the experience calls for more analysis of the power of trade unions and the role of trade unions in alliance with civic and other organisations in the informal economy (Beckman 2012).

3. The Numsa Nine comprised the South African Catering Commercial and Allied Workers Union, the Communication Workers Union, the Public and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, the Food and Allied Workers Union, the South African Municipal Workers Union, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa, the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union and the Commercial Stevedoring Agriculture and Allied Workers Union.

4. In 2013, the Housing Assembly had the following affiliates: Gugulethu Backyard Dwellers, Tafelsig Residents Unite, Delft Integrated Network, Overcome Heights Integrated Development Settlement, AbM Western Cape (Khayelitsha, Langa), Blikkiesdorp Concerned Residents, Makhaza Community Forum, Newfield's Village AEC, Siqalo Informal Settlement, Zille-Raine Heights, Informal Settlements In Struggle, Tafelsig Community Forum, Women For Development, Tafelsig ActiveYouth, Makhaza Youth Forum and the Phillipi Socialist Youth Movement.