Zuma expected to stand up against allies

Johannesburg: South African President Jacob Zuma's meeting with his trade union and communist allies from Friday may produce more rhetoric than substance despite their push to have him shift economic policy to the left.

Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has suggested that it won't cave in to pressure from Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), and the South African Communist Party (SACP) to boost government spending.

In one significant sign of that, the ANC has backed Trevor Manuel's leadership of the government's National Planning Commission, dealing a blow to union allies who want the former finance minister sidelined.

Zuma is no longer as dependent on the unions and the communists who helped his rise. So when he sits across from them at the three-day meeting, their first such gathering since the April election, the president won't have to take calls for a leftist policy shift as seriously.

He is unlikely, though, to merely rebuff their concerns and may recommit to debate, quietening the most vocal figures.

Unions have become increasingly assertive, expecting payback from Zuma, a political chameleon who survived a rape trial in which he was acquitted, years of corruption allegations and a fierce ANC power struggle.

They have staged strikes to press a range of demands, including more government focus on millions of blacks still living in poverty 15 years after the ANC defeated apartheid in 1994, and deeper interest rates.

Wrong signal

But Zuma, 67, has largely stood his ground, worried that policy change during a recession would send the wrong signal to foreign investors in Africa's biggest economy.

"You hear a cacophony of different voices but I don't think Cosatu and the SACP are necessarily more likely to determine policy now," said independent political analyst Nic Borain.

A leadership crisis at power utility Eskom has highlighted the need for government caution.