The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will look into establishing a code of conduct to avoid repeating past mistakes.
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi and president Willie Madisha said this at a press conference on Thursday following the Cosatu executive’s first meeting since its national congress.
The proposed code will include discouraging members ”leaking” stories to the media.
This happened when reports were published of Vavi having allegedly misused his Cosatu credit card for personal use.
However, the meeting — described as ”gloves off” in its frankness — found nothing wrong with Vavi having used the credit card with the intention of repaying Cosatu.
However, the matter will still be discussed and debated further in February.
The Cosatu leadership admitted divisions in the organisation but said a national office bearers’ report received at the post-congress meeting will remain confidential for the sake of fresh debate.
”Cosatu should be allowed space to address its internal problems away from the full glare of the media,” they said in a statement.
It added that differences in Cosatu mirrored the political differences in the broader liberation movement.
”It is, however, an exaggeration and over-simplification to suggest that Cosatu is split between two camps.”
Vavi said there would be no witch hunt into who had leaked stories to the media, but rather an examination into why anybody felt they needed to have ”gone this route”.
On the saga around police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s links with businessman Glenn Agliotti, Vavi said the executive meeting had not discussed the matter.
However, he said there did not appear to be enough evidence against Selebi to justify calls for his resignation. — Sapa