A committee tasked with probing divisions within Cosatu will present its findings to the federation’s top leaders at a specially convened meeting on Friday. The committee was constituted last month by Cosatu’s national office bearers.
A high-ranking source within Cosatu told the Mail & Guardian that the six-man committee, made up of the presidents of Cosatu affiliates, has found that relations between the two leaders, president Willie Madisha and secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi, have deteriorated to the point where they can no longer work together.
The committee also found that the information about Vavi allegedly misusing Cosatu’s credit card was leaked to the media by one of Cosatu’s national office bearers two weeks after the matter was raised in a meeting of senior officials.
In that meeting Madisha raised the issue of Vavi’s misuse of the credit card after he received a complaint from Cosatu’s then deputy president Joe Nkosi. Nkosi had allegedly reported the matter to Madisha after Cosatu’s treasurer, Alina Rantsolase, complained to him that Vavi was misusing funds.
Vavi admitted in a subsequent newspaper report that he did use Cosatu’s credit card for personal purposes, but that he had subsequently returned the money. This has not yet been officially confirmed.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Vavi has accused Madisha of leaking the allegations of financial wrongdoing to the media to damage his credibility. Madisha has denied he was responsible for the leak.
Although the committee found that relations between the two men had broken down irretrievably, it will not make a recommendation on whether Vavi or Madisha should step down for the sake of unity in the federation. According to the Cosatu source, this task will be left to the presidents and general secretaries of Cosatu’s 21 affiliates, who will be attending the Friday meeting.
This crucial meeting is seen by some in Cosatu as a strategy by Vavi’s supporters to push Madisha to step down before the organisation’s national congress, which begins on Monday.
Vavi has reportedly refused to accept nominations for the post of secretary general before the outcome of the investigation, and has allegedly threatened to withdraw from his position if Madisha is nominated as president. Vavi, however, has denied this.
Meanwhile, it is understood that most Cosatu affiliates have withheld their nominations to re-elect Madisha to his post until the committee announces its findings.
Those who are sympathetic to Madisha believe he did the right thing in raising Vavi’s alleged misuse of Cosatu funds. ”The most serious crime here is the misuse of workers’ funds. But now the focus has shifted to who leaked the information to the media. If Cosatu leaders conclude that Madisha should step down, it will mean that corruption has succeeded in the federation. It will mean that Vavi will never be questioned if he does something wrong,” said a Cosatu leader who did not want to be named.
Vavi’s supporters believe Madisha violated Cosatu procedures in his investigation into Vavi. ”The committee’s report will vindicate the conclusions that we have arrived at a long time ago. The reality is that on September 21 we will have a new president. We are no longer at a point whether he [Madisha] should stay as president or not, but on what would be the impact of him leaving the organisation. We want to ensure that when this happens it does not have a negative consequence on the federation,” said a Cosatu leader who is close to Vavi.
Meanwhile, Zanoxolo Wayile, Cosatu’s Eastern Cape provincial chairperson and shop steward for metalworkers’ union Numsa, has emerged as a strong presidential favourite in the Vavi camp. Wayile received support from the Vavi camp after he defied his own union by refusing to accept its nomination of him for the post of deputy president of Cosatu. The position was recently left vacant by Nkosi, who resigned after allegations that he had spied on the leader of the SACP, Blade Nzimande.
Wayile’s refusal to accept Numsa’s nomination embarrassed its leaders, who announced last week that the union was united in its position for the leadership of Cosatu. Numsa said it would nominate Madisha as president and Wayile as deputy president.
Initially mineworkers’ union NUM was considering nominating its deputy president, Crosby Moni, for the position of deputy president of Cosatu. However, NUM and education and health worker’s union Nehawu now want Wayile to replace Madisha as part of a strategy to force Numsa, the third largest affiliate to Cosatu, to withdraw its support for Madisha and support the nomination of Wayile to the Cosatu presidency.
If Numsa were to abandon its support for Madisha, teachers’ union Sadtu would be the only large union left supporting Madisha’s re-election.
The NUM and Nehawu have also nominated KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Sdumo Dlamini, a staunch supporter of Jacob Zuma, as a candidate for Cosatu’s first deputy president.
The Cosatu congress is the first meeting of alliance partners ahead of the ANC conference next year at which a successor to President Thabo Mbeki will be elected.
Vavi and Cosatu leaders close to him want Zuma to replace Mbeki as president of the ANC next year and of the country in 2009.
Observers believe the Cosatu congress will shape the kind of leadership the ANC is likely to have after the 2007 election.
Nehawu general secretary Fikile Majola said he would like to see future ANC leadership better reflect its constituency: ”We want a Cosatu that has a solid left, that will not waiver when we enter difficult discussions, that will influence the direction of the ANC. Cosatu will play a role in saying that we must put a stop to the leadership that we have in the ANC. The majority of ANC members are workers, but the composition of its leadership is different. That should not be allowed,” said Majola.