Johannesburg - Unions affiliated to Cosatu are taking different sides in the battle by the public protector to get President Jacob Zuma to pay back money spent on upgrades not related to security at his Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal.
The SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) has weighed in, accusing Thuli Madonsela of attempting to create anarchy and division in South Africa, and in the ANC in particular.
The gloves have come off, with ANC leaders accusing Madonsela of behaving like a political institution.
This followed the leaking of her letter to Zuma, expressing her dissatisfaction with his response to her report on the upgrades and the millions spent.
The ANC says the letter is undermining Parliament because it has not yet made a decision on the matter.
While Sadtu is backing the ANC, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has said that if Zuma does not repay the money, it will embark on mass action. It is also threatening to take to the streets if the ruling party continues its attacks on Madonsela.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi came out in support of Madonsela at the weekend, saying Zuma should pay what he owed for the upgrades or challenge Madonsela’s findings in court.
This disagreement among affiliates will stoke the disunity in Cosatu. The labour federation has been divided over charges of maladministration against Vavi and calls for it to convene a special national congress to decide on its direction.
The two sides are also at odds over whether Numsa should be expelled from Cosatu for not supporting the ANC in the May elections and for “poaching” members from other unions.
The ANC, which is attempting to unify Cosatu through a mediation process, is to report back soon to the federation on what it thinks needs to be done to resolve the issues.
After a meeting of its national executive committee, Sadtu said Madonsela should go into politics as she was behaving like a fourth branch of government.
“As a union, having fought many other injustices in our past and including the present, we have a moral obligation to protect the Office of the Public Protector from this incumbent. We can safely advise her that if she has an interest in politics, she must, just like Dr Mamphela Ramphele, resign and launch her own party,” Sadtu’s secretariat said.
Madonsela must allow Parliament to handle her report on Nkandla. Sadtu would not allow her and her associates in business or the opposition to govern by proxy, it said.
Numsa says the attacks on Madonsela have assumed “dangerous conspiratorial connotations”.
It was referring to suggestions by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that she might have timed her letter to Zuma deliberately, and that it was leaked to the media to coincide with demands in Parliament for the president to say when he planned to repay the money.
“Should the attacks on the public protector continue, and should the president not indicate soon enough when the money will be repaid, Numsa reserves the right to mobilise for mass action to compel the president to do what is right, what the progressive aspects of the constitution and laws of South Africa demands of him,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said on Monday.
While Zuma has not said he will not pay back the money, he has left it up to his police minister to determine if he should.
The Star