/ 15 April 2015

MK Vet leader: I will kill Vavi for betraying Cosatu

The Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans Association in Limpopo said Vavi believed he was bigger than the organisation
The Umkhonto we Sizwe Veterans Association in Limpopo said Vavi believed he was bigger than the organisation

An Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) Limpopo leader has threatened to kill ousted Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, accusing him of betraying the trade union federation. 

“You must go and tell him that comrade Lulamile Jack, the former bodyguard of Chris Hani, he will kill him for betraying Cosatu,” MKMVA Limpopo deputy chairperson Jack Lulamile told Cosatu’s shop stewards council on Tuesday.

Lulamile and other leaders speaking during the council claimed Vavi was a liability who was tearing Cosatu apart. 

They said Vavi believed he was bigger than the organisation, which was a “tendency” that should not be allowed to surface. 

Addressing delegates at the council in Seshego outside Polokwane, Lulamile said he had put pressure on Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini to expel Vavi. But he rejected claims that he had influenced the Cosatu central executive committee’s decision last month to expel Vavi.

“I must appreciate our discussions moving to the final decision. I was not trying to influence any decision of Cosatu. I was just saying to you, you are taking time in getting rid of Vavi,” he said. 

Lulamile believed he was correct in backing efforts to remove Vavi, saying: “The man was about to kill this federation”. 

“Corrupt” Cosatu provincial chair Essob Mokgonyana told delegates at the council: “Our members cannot be fooled by Jesus Christ wannabe tendency members. We know that Zwelinzima Vavi is corrupt. We know that, we gave him an opportunity to clarify himself with Sizwe Ntsaluba and Gobodo, he refused up until today.”

He was referring to the auditing firm that probed the sale of Cosatu’s Johannesburg headquarters, in which Vavi was implicated in wrongdoing. 

“He refuses to go and clear his name, and prefers to go to the media to clear his name, and we are surprised that we have a person taking so much airtime. The man was on the media the whole day of that day of CEC … Unless you want to destroy the alliance, you will get that,” he added. 

“As a province we are saying, go well Zwelinzima Vavi. We will remember you [and] all the work that you have done for this federation including the two minutes’ sexual encounter with the junior worker,” he said. 

Vavi was found guilty of violating Cosatu’s code of conduct after he admitted to having an affair with a junior employee in 2013. 

Mokgonyana warned Vavi and his supporters that there could be conflict after Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA leader Irvin Jim vowed to mobilise workers to rebuild Cosatu or find an alternative forum. 

Mokgonyana criticised Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha’s administration, saying it was arrogant. “We took a decision to support the leadership of the ANC in the province, that is not a blanket support. We are observing that there are tendencies that we fought against and is emerging in the current leadership of the ANC.”

Mokgonyana demanded that Cosatu be included on the committee tasked with choosing mayors and councillors, so that it could help assess candidates.

“When you deploy, please include us,” he said.