Johannesburg - Suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Saturday claimed that charges against him were leaked to the media to “conduct a media trial”.
“Leaking charges is gross violation of my rights! It's an attempt to conduct media trial hoping trump up allegations will dent my reputation,” he wrote on Twitter.
On Friday, The Mail & Guardian reported that the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) leadership wanted Vavi fired from his position without any notice.
The newspaper said it was in possession of the 33-page charge sheet dated January 13 2014.
The charge sheet was served on Vavi last week, five months after he was put on special leave by the trade union federation.
Vavi was facing nine charges, according to the report.
They were:
- Recruitment and employment of the junior Cosatu employee without going through the relevant challenges
- Relationship with the Cosatu employee
- The conversion of the junior to permanent employee
- Supervision of the woman he was accused of having an affair with – alleged failure by Vavi to supervise her work performance has allegedly led to travel expenses amounting to R483,737 in 2012
and R778,624 in 2013 not accounted for
- Distribution of internal grievance and response on Twitter before Cosatu could hear the grievance
- Personal expenses and personal travel paid for using a Cosatu credit card
- Claiming during a Carte Blanche interview that the administrative secretary of Cosatu had interviewed the junior employee for her position; Breach of suspension conditions
- Utterances derogatory of Cosatu and its leadership, which include a statement posted on Numsa's website shortly after Vavi was suspended in which he questioned the motive of his suspension.
According to the newspaper Vavi's disciplinary inquiry would be chaired by one of the country's top legal minds, advocate Wim Trengove SC.
He would be authorised to make findings on all the charges and also decide on the appropriate sanction.
Vavi would be allowed legal representation at the inquiry. - Sapa