Johannesburg - The woman at the centre of Zwelinzima Vavi’s rape scandal appears to have withdrawn into her shell - for now - as support for the Cosatu general secretary continued to grow.
This follows her decision on Monday to withdraw the “grievance” against Vavi two hours into an internal Cosatu disciplinary hearing.
“It’s not that I am hiding anything, but it’s my son’s birthday today,” was all the 26-year-old mother-of-two would say on Tuesday.
This came as gender rights group Sonke Gender Justice called on Cosatu to remove her name from the trade union federation’s website.
“As in all cases where sexual violence may be involved, we note that media and institutional ethics are key. We are deeply concerned that the name of the complainant has been released to the media, and that the source of this release was Cosatu itself,” read a statement from the organisation on Tuesday.
“As of today, Mr Vavi’s statement - containing the complainant’s name - remains on the Cosatu website. We urge the union to redact her name from (its) website,” Sonke Gender Justice said. It also called on Cosatu, the police and the media to demonstrate their commitment to fighting gender-based violence by handling the matter appropriately.
“We are further concerned that a number of media outlets have also (mentioned) her name, despite the fact that this is not permissible in terms of the SA National Editors’ Forum’s media ethics code.”
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said they would consider Sonke Gender Justice’s request.
The decision by the woman to withdraw the charges appeared to have strengthened support for Vavi within Cosatu. On Tuesday, unions continued to rally around him, reiterating that the alleged rape and sexual harassment against him were part of the political plot to oust him.
The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) said it would plead with Vavi’s family to allow him to serve another term when the current one expires in 2015. This followed weekend reports that Vavi’s family were considering persuading him to resign.
Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola said the grievance was part of “a new onslaught to silence and tame” Cosatu as an independent and militant federation.
The SA Football Players Union (Safpu) said it feared for Vavi’s safety as his opponents were “willing to stop at nothing to destroy him”.
The sex scandal has divided two of Cosatu’s biggest unions, the pro-Vavi National Union of Metalworkers of SA and the anti-Vavi National Union of Mineworkers.
Meanwhile, Vavi’s lawyer, Dup de Bruyn, said on Tuesday that no decision had been taken yet about laying additional charges to the one of extortion that Vavi opened against his accuser.
This charge relates to Vavi’s claims that the woman and her husband solicited R2 million from him in exchange for their silence.
The Star
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