Cosatu's Vavi in the firing line

Cosatu General secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. File photo: Antoine de Ras.

Cosatu General secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. File photo: Antoine de Ras.

Published Jul 14, 2013

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Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini has emerged as the star witness in the case of political disloyalty and maladministration that threatens to unseat the federation’s boss, Zwelinzima Vavi.

The Sunday Independent understands that Dlamini and the federation’s deputy president, Zingiswa Losi, have both testified before a commission probing Vavi.

And the affiliated unions opposing the general secretary have – in the past three weeks – made written submissions to members of the commission, labour lawyer Charles Nupen and Petrus Mashishi, former leader of a municipal union.

SizweNtsalubaGobodo was appointed to look at allegations of financial misappropriation regarding the new Cosatu building in Joburg. The affiliates include the embattled National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), teacher union Sadtu, transport union Satawu, police union Popcru and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu). In their written submissions, NUM, Sadtu, Satawu and Nehawu argue that Vavi has lost the support of the majority of the affiliates.

They allege the Cosatu leader has been misrepresenting the position of the federation and portrayed it as an opposition to the Jacob Zuma administration.

LEADERS TO TESTIFY

Popcru, meanwhile, has provided evidence of Vavi’s alleged involvement in the sale and purchase of Cosatu buildings. It is understood that leaders of Satawu will next week back up their written submissions against Vavi by testifying against their federation’s boss.

Yesterday Dlamini could not be reached for comment. Losi refused to speak about her submission.

“This shouldn’t be a process we are called (by media) to confirm or reject. It is an internal matter,” said Losi.

While Nehawu and Sadtu leaders confirmed their submissions, they declined to discuss their contents. “We have made submissions but we are not going to comment because it is an internal matter,” said Sadtu’s general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke.

Nehawu general secretary Fikile Majola said it was expected of all affiliates to make submissions.

“But as you know we can’t comment about these internal matters in public,” he said.

NUM general secretary Frans Baleni and Satawu general secretary Zenzo Mahlangu did not respond to written questions.

Popcru spokesman Theto Mahlakoana referred questions to the union’s general secretary, Nathi Theledi, who could not be reached.

Vavi, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence, saying should he be found guilty, he would step down.

Contacted for comment this week, Vavi did not respond to calls or SMSes.

However, the pro-Vavi metalworkers union Numsa, which now claims to be Cosatu’s biggest affiliate after NUM suffered membership losses to its mining rival, this week reiterated its call for the investigation against Vavi to be abandoned. Numsa has made a submission to the inquiry in which it defends Vavi, saying allegations against him were baseless.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim told The Sunday Independent that all submissions had to be made available to all Cosatu structures.

“We think that it is only fair that those allegations should be made to workers. We should get a mandate from workers,” he said.

He accused Nehawu of going public with internal accusations against Vavi, compromising the investigation.

“Nehawu said openly there was rupture with (sic) the general secretary, the same point they made internally,” he added.

Numsa argued that Vavi was unfairly targeted.

“Our interpretation of these statements is that they are in fact consistent (with) singling out the general secretary of Cosatu to destroy his character, integrity and political credibility,” the union said in a statement.

SPECIAL CONGRESS NEEDED

The organisation needed a special congress, not an investigation, to help Cosatu get out of the morass, it argued.

But Nehawu spokesman Sizwe Pamla chastised Numsa for going public. “It was agreed at the last central executive committee (meeting) that affiliates should not make public comments about this issue in the media, only when this matter is discussed at Cosatu will we make our comments clear. We take our mandate from the federation, not from the other affiliates. We will only follow what the leadership of Cosatu says, not Numsa or other affiliates,” said Pamla.

Pamla’s comments came after the federation postponed its central executive committee meeting – scheduled for this week – to August.

The gathering was supposed to consider a report into the investigation.

The probe into Vavi is the culmination of a protracted battle between him and Dlamini, who is seen as Zuma’s ally.

Vavi supporters believe he is being victimised for being critical of Zuma. Ironically, in 2007 Vavi led a faction in the federation that supported Zuma’s presidency of the ANC. He fought against the then Cosatu president Willie Madisha, who supported Thabo Mbeki’s bid for a third term as party leader.

“Sdumo went to the commission to state that they (as office bearers) were not informed on the issues of the buying and selling of the building. Zingi and Sdumo have told the commission that there haven’t been collective decisions on the building,” said a Cosatu central executive committee member, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter. “They said they, too, were in the dark. Sdumo has been to the commission more than twice. He has a lot of detail,” the leader added.

The inquiry into Vavi, which was first mooted in May, has been hit by several delays.

 

At the same time, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has been speaking to Cosatu affiliates in an attempt to prevent a split in the federation ahead of elections next year. -Sunday Independent

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