Trade unions must be a persuasive force

ONE of the salient features of our fight for independence was the militant and organised nature of trade unions.

With the advent of freedom, trade unions went through a marked ideological transformation. These mutations seemed to be a recurring tension between conversion, accommodation to the demands of the market economy and opposition to such demands through the protection of workers against the worst excesses of capitalism.In recent weeks, even months, the Union has occupied the public space and debate for reasons that deserve our applause, markedly their unambiguous stance against the exploitation of workers by Ramatex.Adversely, the Union has marked our collective political conscience through a pungent brawl for leadership succession in the lead-up to last year’s congresswhich brought two figures to the fore, the affable Alfeus Muheua, a senior manager in the Office of the Prime Minister as President, and the abrasive Evalistus Kaaronda as Secretary General.The first is subdued on key issues (possibly by virtue of the two incongruous hats he wears), whilst the latter has been at times cantankerous, spending a lot of union capital on political bidding, influencing the outcome of congresses, on internal memos written, but not implemented.So, instead of critical dialogue and respectful exchange from the mother of unions, we have witnessed several bouts of name-calling and mean-spirited arguments.These simple issues brings to the fore the current malaise of unionism or “business unionism” (in Blade Nzimande’s provocative phraseology) in Namibia which in some instances, has very little to do with the matrix that I painted earlier.It appears a very frightening future for the role of the trade union movement, which is possibly at a nadir.In order to account for this depressing state of affairs we must begin to deconstruct the root causes.Logically, my only forceful disclaimer is that the Achilles’ heel of the NUNW is its continued, uncritical and visceral affiliation to the ruling party.This issue is both subtle and problematic.Putting it minimally, the affiliation of the NUNW to Swapo suggests that it has not been able to redefine its role in an independent Namibia.First, that of an interest group which must advance views ignored by the ruling party and serving as a militant forum for influencing government policy.Have we ever seen a Union leader tabling a position paper for discussion at the party’s congresses? Secondly, the NUNW has not been able to broaden its scope of political participation, both by providing an alternative to conventional party politics and by offering an opportunity for grass-roots activism in line with its mandate.This is almost impossible with a politically affiliated union, since it can’t serve or appeal as a home to all workers.Thirdly, with a President who is also a senior government official, the question first posed by Plato “Quis custodiet ipsos custodet?” (Who will guard the guardians?), is enlightening and it begs the question as to how the Union can check on government power as an interest group by defending the interests of workers with this paradox at the top? In a modern democracy, at least one with pretensions like ours, the role of the state is balanced by a vigorous and healthy civil society and the NUNW must occupy that space.Instead, through its affiliation, the NUNW, a once potent force of political and social change, has pushed itself underground and is expressing itself through the party-state apparatus and is inextricably entangled with the political and ideological goals of the ruling party.As such, the interests of workers fade away in the broader progammic and ideological interests aggregation of Swapo.It is essential to argue that NUNW must construct a new agenda in line with a new political context, one that is forward-looking and substantive.We haven’t heard the voice of the NUNW loud on the key issues of social exclusion, the sorry state of education, tribalism, the continuing income inequalities and the consequent high cost of living.Issues which in fact affect mostly the membership base of this union and our future.To do so, the NUNW must de-link or rethink the way it engages the ruling party.Without a candid acknowledgment that its continued affiliation is a paralysing force, the NUNW is unlikely to serve the broader interests of its membership.It is also less likely to construct a new agenda that would put it in the position of a persuasive force and effective transmission belt of social transformation.* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris-Panthéon Sorbonne, France.These mutations seemed to be a recurring tension between conversion, accommodation to the demands of the market economy and opposition to such demands through the protection of workers against the worst excesses of capitalism.In recent weeks, even months, the Union has occupied the public space and debate for reasons that deserve our applause, markedly their unambiguous stance against the exploitation of workers by Ramatex.Adversely, the Union has marked our collective political conscience through a pungent brawl for leadership succession in the lead-up to last year’s congresswhich brought two figures to the fore, the affable Alfeus Muheua, a senior manager in the Office of the Prime Minister as President, and the abrasive Evalistus Kaaronda as Secretary General.The first is subdued on key issues (possibly by virtue of the two incongruous hats he wears), whilst the latter has been at times cantankerous, spending a lot of union capital on political bidding, influencing the outcome of congresses, on internal memos written, but not implemented.So, instead of critical dialogue and respectful exchange from the mother of unions, we have witnessed several bouts of name-calling and mean-spirited arguments.These simple issues brings to the fore the current malaise of unionism or “business unionism” (in Blade Nzimande’s provocative phraseology) in Namibia which in some instances, has very little to do with the matrix that I painted earlier.It appears a very frightening future for the role of the trade union movement, which is possibly at a nadir.In order to account for this depressing state of affairs we must begin to deconstruct the root causes.Logically, my only forceful disclaimer is that the Achilles’ heel of the NUNW is its continued, uncritical and visceral affiliation to the ruling party.This issue is both subtle and problematic.Putting it minimally, the affiliation of the NUNW to Swapo suggests that it has not been able to redefine its role in an independent Namibia.First, that of an interest group which must advance views ignored by the ruling party and serving as a militant forum for influencing government policy.Have we ever seen a Union leader tabling a position paper for discussion at the party’s congresses? Secondly, the NUNW has not been able to broaden its scope of political participation, both by providing an alternative to conventional party politics and by offering an opportunity for grass-roots activism in line with its mandate.This is almost impossible with a politically affiliated union, since it can’t serve or appeal as a home to all workers.Thirdly, with a President who is also a senior government official, the question first posed by Plato “Quis custodiet ipsos custodet?” (Who will guard the guardians?), is enlightening and it begs the question as to how the Union can check on government power as an interest group by defending the interests of workers with this paradox at the top? In a modern democracy, at least one with pretensions like ours, the role of the state is balanced by a vigorous and healthy civil society and the NUNW must occupy that space.Instead, through its affiliation, the NUNW, a once potent force of political and social change, has pushed itself underground and is expressing itself through the party-state apparatus and is inextricably entangled with the political and ideological goals of the ruling party.As such, the interests of workers fade away in the broader progammic and ideologi
cal interests aggregation of Swapo. It is essential to argue that NUNW must construct a new agenda in line with a new political context, one that is forward-looking and substantive.We haven’t heard the voice of the NUNW loud on the key issues of social exclusion, the sorry state of education, tribalism, the continuing income inequalities and the consequent high cost of living.Issues which in fact affect mostly the membership base of this union and our future.To do so, the NUNW must de-link or rethink the way it engages the ruling party.Without a candid acknowledgment that its continued affiliation is a paralysing force, the NUNW is unlikely to serve the broader interests of its membership.It is also less likely to construct a new agenda that would put it in the position of a persuasive force and effective transmission belt of social transformation.* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris-Panthéon Sorbonne, France.