Zingiswa Losi Gears Up for Re-Election at COSATU's 14th Congress
Zingiswa Losi, the current president of South Africa's trade union - Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), is set to run for reelection during the organisation's 14th national congress, which will be held this week. On Monday, the presentation of the political report will be made, marking the beginning of the scheduled events. The leadership campaign is expected to take centre stage alongside policy debates this week.
After four years in office as the country's first female president, having first been elected in 2018, Zingiswa Losi will begin the week seeking to be reelected.
She has been claimed by The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and South African Transport and Allied Workers Approximately 2000 delegates are anticipated to cast ballots. POPCRU, her cohort, will send over 200 delegates to the congress, and they have all promised to vote for her.
It is expected that Bheki Ntshalintshali will step down as general secretary, which will also start a heated race for the position. This has complicated her presidential campaign. However, Losi's membership in the police union has been verified by POPCRU.
As a senior leader of the federation, Losi is acutely aware of the organisation's challenges. In a statement, an issue she highlighted as critical for COSATU leadership is to ensure that women swell the ranks of the federation’s leadership.
“I would love to see women taking their rightful place in the federation not for the purposes of achieving gender equity, but for the transformation of the broader society. This will go a long way towards eradicating the patriarchal tendencies that still exist in our society,” she said.
In another interview, she buttressed the same point.
“The milestones that one would love to achieve, firstly is to see women, as you have quite eloquently quoted the quote that I have made, occupying a strategic provision in the trade union and in society. But the reason why women at times are not being seen is because of other hindrances that I would want us to see dealing with - the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual harassment also in the trade union themselves because that becomes a hindrance to the development of women.”
Approximately 2,000 delegates are anticipated to cast ballots. POPCRU, her cohort, will send over 200 delegates to the congress, and they have all promised to vote for her.
It is expected that Bheki Ntshalintshali will step down as general secretary, which will also start a heated race for the position.