Members of the Congress of SA Trade Unions will be asked to help pay for former deputy president Jacob Zuma’s legal costs, Cosatu said on Wednesday.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said at a press conference in Johannesburg that members would not be forced to contribute to funds for this purpose. They would be asked to do so on a voluntary basis.
”Hopefully there will be enough to defend in the case against the deputy president,” he said.
Vavi said the union federation would nonetheless respect the view of the court presiding over Zuma on two charges of corruption.
”If he is found guilty, Cosatu will say to the [African National Congress] deputy president — you have really disappointed us. Face the consequences.”
Cosatu had no intention of raising the Zuma issue at the ANC national general council this week, but would engage in debate around it if other parties brought in onto the agenda.
Its central executive committee reiterated its support for Zuma at a meeting held on Wednesday.
Vavi said this was decided upon in reaction to media reports that there was division within the movement on its support for Zuma.
NPA ‘peddled’ information
Cosatu had been asked to send 60 delegates to the ANC council, a substantially higher number compared to previous meetings, Vavi said.
He said the campaign against Zuma was political. ”It was a clear case of systematic co-operation between the National Prosecuting Authority which peddled information on investigations in co-operation with the media,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cosatu would continue its programme of striking with the next action scheduled for August 29.
A season of mass action was scheduled to last until February, Vavi said.
”We’ll be taking it to a lower level to allow the private sector to approach us for talks,” he said.
Vavi said if companies believed in the SA Chamber of Commerce’s ”propaganda” that Monday’s strike had only been supported by 10% of workers, ”there will be more strikes between August and February”.
Targets for future industrial action were companies practising retrenchments, racism and casualisation, and refusing to pay living wages.
Cosatu said it was urging its public service affiliates to speed up the process of drawing up minimum service agreements for essential services.
”If the state as employer continues to obstruct this process, we will take the matter back to the essential services committee at Nedlac.”
Vavi said he believed that adjustments in the rand exchange rate were the result of forces responding positively to Monday’s strike.
Cosatu also said it had called for talks with the SABC to discuss biased media coverage, while threatening a boycott of television licences.
Vavi said the union movement had noticed a ”worrying trend” particularly in how SABC 1 reports carried a bias against Cosatu.
”Should these engagements fail the central executive committee [of Cosatu] will consider protest action against the SABC, including marches and a relaunch of the license boycott”.
Vavi recalled this having been done during the apartheid era by the United Democratic Front. – Sapa