Profile : Jay Naidoo Strikes Fear in S. African Big Business Because He Is : The Voice of the Workers

His face alone sends nervous shudders through South Africa’s powerful white business Establishment. And when he speaks, his brand of political fire and brimstone can make the most even-tempered magnate turn pale with anger.

The object of this hatred--and, some say, fear--is Jay Naidoo (NIGH-doo), the 37-year-old general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country’s most powerful labor federation. While white men control the paychecks for most blacks, Naidoo commands the allegiance of three dozen unions and 1.2 million black workers--the backbone of South Africa’s shop floor.

He has the power to virtually shut industry down, and he’s not shy about using that weapon to advance the political objectives of his members. He proved that again Monday when more than half of the country’s black work force heeded his call for a two-day national strike, sponsored by COSATU and its close ally, the African National Congress.

“We want to make clear that President (Frederik W.) de Klerk cannot rule without our consent,” Naidoo said. “This is the last signal to the government and big business that we are rapidly running out of patience.”

South Africa’s white businessmen, who embrace the ideal of free-market capitalism, have their worries about the policy of nationalization espoused by Nelson Mandela’s ANC and Chris Hani’s Communist Party. But it is Naidoo’s COSATU, which carries the battle against white-minority rule onto the shop floor, that brings out business’ most visceral fears.

The man who personifies COSATU is a tall, angular Indian with a crooked black mustache, wild black hair, piercing dark eyes and a pointy black beard. He looks, even his closest friends admit, demonic. And his speeches, with their charismatic effect on the impoverished black masses, are among the most radical heard in South Africa these days.

“I’m not the radical they make me out to be, you know,” he said the other day, striding down a corridor at COSATU’s headquarters in downtown Johannesburg.

Seeing doubt on his questioner’s face, he smiled. “Well, yes,” he acknowledged. “Sometimes you have to be a radical to represent the people.”

The ANC’s decision to suspend talks with the government, strongly supported by COSATU, and a monthlong campaign of spot strikes, sit-ins, consumer boycotts, rallies and marches to force concessions from De Klerk’s government have brought Naidoo again to center stage.

At a funeral for victims of the Boipatong massacre, Naidoo led the crowd in chants of “De Klerk must go! De Klerk must go!”

“We will take to the streets to force you to go,” Naidoo vowed. “We are not your kitchen maids. We are not your garden boys. The final battle has come for our freedom. We are sick and tired of endless negotiations.”

If the economy goes down the drain, so be it, Naidoo added. “We will take you to hell with us,” he warned big business.

The government and white corporate executives say they don’t oppose the right of voteless blacks to protest. But they warn that the result will be irreversible economic damage, renewed violence and a delay in the resumption of negotiations. And they also suspect that leaders such as Naidoo want to overthrow the government by force.

Mandela denies any desire to create anarchy. He says the mass protests simply are designed to get negotiations back on track by forcing the government to bargain fairly with the ANC and act decisively to end violence.

And Naidoo, in the quiet of his office, agreed. “We’re committed to peaceful negotiations,” he said.

But he added that black workers are angry because constitutional negotiations “have failed to deliver the goods. We’re just not convinced that this government is committed fundamentally to democracy.”

Naidoo acknowledges that the two-day strike will result in docked pay for black workers and could add to the swelling millions of jobless blacks. But he says it’s the only way to force business leaders to join black workers in applying pressure on the government to change.

“Certainly the economy is going to be hurt,” Naidoo said. “But sometimes you have to cut out the cancer to create a healthy body.”

The author of those fighting words was born Jayaseelan Naidoo, one of seven children of a court interpreter in the Indian Ocean port of Durban. Like many activists of his generation, Naidoo was greatly influenced by Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, who died in police custody in 1977. Naidoo rose through the union ranks to lead the Sweet, Food and Allied Workers Union at the age of 26 and, two years later, helped found COSATU, becoming its general secretary. The congress, representing workers in the mines, auto factories, textile plants and other industries, quickly became a powerful force in forcing political change.

As an ethnic Indian leading a mainly black labor federation, Naidoo “has had to be radical to be accepted by his membership,” one analyst commented. “That is his problem.” But that militant talk--along with his self-confidence, his commitment to socialist ideals and his intolerance for big business--has made Naidoo a hated figure in white corporate circles.

“We are not scared to say we are socialist,” Naidoo told South Africa’s Finance Week magazine earlier this year. “Business must understand that our members are attracted to socialism out of their daily experiences and sufferings.” But, he added, “We are available to compromise, to reach agreements and to honor those agreements.”

In fact, Naidoo has earned a modicum of respect in South Africa’s boardrooms for his willingness to negotiate with business leaders and for his key role in creating the multiracial National Peace Forum.

Naidoo got some unexpected support from the business community last year when he and two other trade union leaders were charged with kidnaping--they grabbed a plainclothes black policeman who had been following one of the union workers and paraded him before a news conference.

The unionists were convicted (and are free awaiting their appeal). But several leading white businessmen testified as character witnesses for Naidoo, noting his key role in negotiations that led to changes in the country’s labor laws.

Away from the podium, and outside the office, Naidoo isn’t anything like his public persona, friends say. They describe him as a romantic and an eternal optimist who practices yoga and meditation.

“I think he goes with the flow a lot,” said Colette Tilley, a friend and neighbor. “He just accepts what’s got to be done and doesn’t agonize or torture himself.”

Although Naidoo is an ally of the ANC, he plays no active role in the organization, preferring to keep his federation independent.

Asked if he foresees a day when COSATU might launch a strike against an ANC-controlled government, Naidoo replied with a pause.

“Certainly,” he said. “We have always been a very powerful voice on behalf of the marginalized in our society. And we would not hesitate to strike, even if the government may be of a political complexion that we identify with.”

Earlier this year, though, Naidoo’s marriage to a white Canadian journalist brought toasts from Mandela and other luminaries of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Naidoo turns uncharacteristically shy when asked about that day.

He says he wanted to keep the whole thing quiet--especially, one suspects, the decision of this voice of the oppressed black masses to arrive at the wedding in a Rolls-Royce.

Biography

Name: Jayaseelan Naidoo

Title: General Secretary, Congress of South African Trade Unions

Age: 37

Personal: Tireless worker and a fiery orator. Leader of 1.2 million black workers. Said to be among the most militant of South Africa’s anti-apartheid activists. Recently married a Canadian journalist. Practices yoga. Takes a jar of chili sauce to spice up hotel food on his trips abroad.

Quote: “We are sick and tired of the endless negotiations. We are impatient for our freedom.”