Durban - Axed Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi has challenged the federation to pursue charges of financial irregularities against him.
He told reporters in Johannesburg on Thursday that he was not guilty of the allegations levelled against him, including Cosatu losing money when the trade union federation switched headquarters in the city.
“They can’t prove it. They said they were investigating criminal charges. Can you ask them where are the criminal charges?” Vavi asked.
A number of irregularities were unearthed by forensic investigators SizweNtsalubaGobodo, The company hired to look into Cosatu’s finances.
The report was one of the reasons for the chasm between Vavi and Cosatu’s other leaders.
The investigation into the irregularities was ongoing. To date, Vavi has maintained his innocence and no criminal action has been taken against him. He called the media briefing to announce that he would not be appealing against his expulsion at the federation’s congress next week, but he was coy about what his plans were.
He did say his future would remain “intertwined with that of the workers”.
Vavi said his decision not to appeal was in part owing to his analysis of Cosatu’s special national congress in July, including a report tabled there which he said was a “misrepresentation of facts” and “character assassination”.
He declined to comment on what specific role he would play in a new labour federation mooted by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and others, saying it had not been established yet.
“There is a workers’ summit due. We are working hard with leaders of two other federations, and other federations. By the end of this month, we would have published all the critical discussion documents to inform workers across the country, after which there will be a bottom-up process for provincial workers summits from January,” Vavi said.
He said Cosatu under his leadership, which spanned 16 years, had been a “militant, democratic and fighting trade union movement”.
“I have no doubt that the historians will say the general secretary (Vavi) of the federation was not an angel – he committed a few mistakes, (but) others committed more mistakes,” he said.
Vavi said he was dismissed because he refused to preside over the expulsion of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s 340 000 members and unionists purged from other Cosatu affiliates.
He slammed Cosatu’s discussion documents for next week’s congress, saying he was “shocked by the terrible standards”. He said not enough time had been allocated for the circulation of the federation’s congress discussion documents among unions. Also, no process appeared to have been set out for constitutional amendments and draft resolutions had not been debated.
Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said the federation’s central executive committee had dealt with most of the issues that would be submitted at the congress.
“We don’t entertain comments from former leaders on organisational issues… we hope Vavi will find peace with the fact he is longer our general secretary,” Pamla said.
“For the past five years, he nearly collapsed Cosatu when we gave him a mandate… All the energy he has, he must use it to take his future forward. He should tell us about his programme and leave Cosatu to those who are in charge of Cosatu.
“We can see that he misses us, but we sadly don’t miss him,” said Pamla.
The Mercury