Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned that South Africa could become a “banana republic”, and threatened to repudiate President Jacob Zuma's leadership, the Sunday Times reported.
In a report prepared for the federation's central committee meeting on June 27, the Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary said relations in the tripartite alliance were “bad” last September, the newspaper reported.
Vavi was referring to African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who shortly before the ANC national general council meeting in Durban, invited Cosatu to walk away from the pact.
“The manner of presentation; the anger combined with arrogance, positional postures, insults and rough language appeared designed to provoke a walkout by Cosatu,” Vavi reportedly wrote in the report prepared for the June gathering.
The report confirmed that Cosatu believed the ANC Youth League was on a campaign to remove Mantashe and Zuma, the Sunday Times reported.
“If they succeed in this campaign, the ANC as we have known it will be history. Our country we love so much will go straight down the direction of a banana republic. The current challenge of corruption will be institutionalised with a risk that the very country will be sold to the highest bidder,” Vavi reportedly said. - Sapa