Johannesburg – Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini has apologised yet again for the "confusion caused" by his attendance of President Jacob Zuma's birthday bash.
Dlamini was speaking at Cosatu's Central Committee meeting on Thursday where he also thanked members for accepting his apology.
His attendance of Zuma's bash was not well received by some Cosatu affiliates such as the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union and the teacher union Sadtu.
This is because the federation had taken the decision that Zuma should resign and Dlamini's attendance would cause confusion amongst members.
This led to his first apology at the federation's special central executive committee meeting a week ago.
Dlamini appeared frustrated as he stressed at the CC that collective decisions taken by Cosatu were binding to every member. He also warned them to stop sowing divisions by sending journalists to ask questions about the leadership's take on matters, while they knew that a decision was binding to all.
He shone the spotlight on unions that struggled to unify as they couldn't even hold crucial meetings and give feedback on Cosatu decisions.
Cosatu backs Cyril Ramaphosa to replace Zuma as ANC president.
Delegates sang songs in support of Ramaphosa at the meeting. One delegate even spoke out and said as members they were not ashamed of their decision.
Dlamini is known to be a Zuma ally.
He told delegates that the political battle that they chose would be messy and they should be ready.
A couple of weeks ago, Dlamini found a cat's head in his yard, and said he knew what it meant. He linked this to the current political battle leading to the ANC's elective conference in December.