The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will stand by its general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, if the African National Congress (ANC) brings disciplinary charges against him, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“We can’t confirm it, we only know what we have read in this morning’s Star [newspaper],” said Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven.
The union federation is shocked by the report and said there is no basis for the complaint that Vavi publicly accused ANC ministers of corruption.
The report, which did not name sources, said a discussion took place on Monday at a national working committee meeting (NWC).
One of the sources said that the move to charge Vavi is part of the ANC Youth League’s ploy to divert attention from its president, Julius Malema’s, disciplinary charges.
Some of Malema’s supporters are reportedly hoping to force the NWC to overturn his two-year suspended sentence.
Last Thursday, Vavi accused President Jacob Zuma of not taking action against corrupt ministers, specifically mentioning Minister of Cooperative Governance Sicelo Shiceka and Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda.
Vociferous support
Vavi said reports that Shiceka had lied in his CV and the conduct of Nyanda, who spent half-a-million rand on hotels in Cape Town, should be probed.
Vavi was quoted as saying: “That can’t be true, how is that possible.”
Vavi is an ordinary member of the ANC.
Before the corruption charges were dropped against Zuma, the president of the ANC, Vavi was one of his most vociferous supporters.
Craven said Cosatu has not been informed, either verbally or in writing, of the possibility of charges against Vavi.
But he said that when Vavi speaks, he speaks for the entire federation, and so there is “no way he can be charged as an individual for what the whole organisation has said”.
“Cosatu is an independent organisation in alignment with the ANC and has every right to express its views.”
Neither of the three ANC national spokespersons were immediately available to comment on the report. — Sapa