Cosatu and SACP leaders do not control President Jacob Zuma, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in Durban on Thursday.

"It is not correct that alliance leaders control Zuma. Some people say Zuma is not a leader because he is failing to stop the strikes and to stop the debate about nationalisation," he told delegates attending the union federation's two-day provincial congress.

"People who accuse Zuma of not being a good leader say Cosatu has gone crazy by organising... strikes. That claim is not backed by any facts. They say Cosatu will not give Zuma a chance," he said.

Zuma's call for a debate on nationalising mines was a step in the right direction.

Cosatu had to redefine its role, he said. The federation needed to avoid two extremes, one being the government's lapdog, the other a permanent opposition.

"On one extreme, as we have the man that is sympathetic to us [Zuma], can mean that we must stop being a revolutionary movement and be a sweetheart of the government. That is an uncritical lapdog of the state."

If this were to happen Cosatu members would lose faith in the organisation and workers would find other champions, he said.

Cosatu was instrumental helping Zuma and other union leaders into ANC leadership positions during the party's Polokwane conference in 2007. Most of them were now in government.

There was also a danger the union federation could become a permanent opposition, which meant it would be the first to criticise everything the government.

He further called on tripartite alliance partners to continue being united.

"The biggest enemy of the alliance partners is not the Congress of the People or the Democratic Alliance, but class materialism. There is a massive rush to be rich, even within workers' unions."

Most divisions were not ideological, but fuelled by "tender politics" —fights over government tenders.

Vavi called on Cosatu members to help the SA Medical Association (Sama), saying its members were not used to unionism. Sama recently became a Cosatu affiliate.

ANC chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize told delegates that South Africans needed to support the government's proposed national health insurance.

"We appeal for more informed debate about the insurance."

He said the question was not whether it would be implemented, but when.

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