SETBACKS are common in the life of any organisation. What matters is not the emergence or existence of such setbacks, but the reason for their genesis and how they are tackled. Cosatu is no different.

Being the biggest federation, whose affiliates and members dominate all sectors of the economy, it is inevitable that the federation would suffer many troubles that could threaten its very survival if not dealt with properly.

When Cosatu was formed more than 25 years ago it was under the slogan, one country one trade union federation. The federation also wanted to have a single union for each industry.

Both dreams have not been achieved. Today we have new unions that have emerged after breaking away from unions affiliated to Cosatu. The new unions include the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and national transport and allied workers' union (Natawu).

Cosatu is unhappy with this new development and this was clearly stated in the secretariat report at its national congress in Midrand.

Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi called on workers who broke away from the federations' affiliates to return home and compared joining any splinter union to following the devil. He said the workers that defected from Cosatu affiliates had been misled.

Vavi and his Cosatu comrades have to learn to operate under these conditions and accept that workers can choose to belong to other unions.

Research done by the National Union of Mineworkers has found that some of the members who have joined Amcu claim there is a widening social gap between workers and union leaders.

This week's congress also reported how most unions were losing membership. Size matters because it breeds arrogance, social distance between leaders and those being led and gives room to new ideas. The ANC suffers the same problem as Cosatu.

It is now up to Vavi and his collective to deal with how Cosatu helps its affiliates win back members and help the federation reach its target of 4-million members by 2015.

Currently, Cosatu has 2.2-million members.

As for the ANC, it has to understand that it is the ruling party and its mandate is to deal with and relate to all federations or unions in the country.

Its relationship with Cosatu should not compromise its mandate to represent everyone. Cosatu's relationship with the ruling party has to be clear and both parties should know what to expect from each other.

Cosatu's political report speaks about betrayal and how hard the labour federation worked to deliver President Jacob Zuma's leadership collective in Polokwane in December 2007.

The agreements were not reached on principle and some promises made to Cosatu were not kept.

The labour federation also has to understand that there are other federations in the country - Nactu and the Federation of Unions of SA being the most prominent.

So it cannot afford to fight the workers who join other unions because they think new unions represent them better.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe also berated workers for using sangomas during the Marikana strike that left 34 workers shot dead. They believed that they would be invincible after the sangoma had treated them when being shot at by police.

This has been a practice in the unions even when Mantashe led the NUM. He therefore cannot condemn the practice today after he failed to ban it at the time.

Union leaders have to instil in their members that they have to rely on their bargaining powers not some muthi that will make them invisible.

Zuma also told the Cosatu delegates to swell the ranks of the ANC because other classes would take over. He has also invited them to the ANC national executive committee, which is the highest decision making body of the ruling party in between conference.

This will not help Cosatu to win back its members. The labour federation has been preoccupied in the past five years with issues that have nothing to do with the workers. It has to leave ANC issues to be addressed by the ruling party otherwise it will bleed until there is no member left.

There has been tensions between the leaders of Cosatu, especially between Vavi and its president Sdumo Dlamini, who are said to be for or against Zuma's second term as ANC president. Vavi has been vocal about Zuma's government failings on some programmes, while Dlamini is supporting the president.

Now Vavi and Dlamini have to work together and help their unions to attract more members.

This can be achieved by addressing shop-floor issues and this will make them more powerful and influential.

• This article was first published in the printed newspaper and eEdition on 20 September 2012. Click on this link to view the eEdition