Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says that he has not met the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Cosatu's suspended general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
"I have never met Vavi … There is no such discussion between us and Vavi, even Numsa. We are not in discussions with Numsa," Malema told reporters in Johannesburg on Thursday.
However, the EFF did want to meet the Numsa.
"We are creating an initiative to meet with Numsa … We think we are sharing the same ideological perspective and there is no need for us to disagree and fight publicly," he said.
Malema said the EFF welcomed the outcomes of Numsa's special congress, at which it decided not to support the ANC in this year's elections.
"All workers should be like Numsa and appreciate that the ANC is not and will never be a vehicle to liberate the working class, because they still believe that social grants and lousy RDP houses are means to emancipate the working class."
Twitter spat
On Wednesday, ANC national executive committee member Tito Mboweni and Vavi had a war of words on social networking site Twitter.
Mboweni asked Vavi if he had declined nomination to the ANC's list for Parliament because he was in talks with the EFF.
"@Zwelinzima1 You wrote about why you decline nomination for Parly. Is that the truth? Or is it because of EFF/Numsa coalition leadership?," Mboweni asked Vavi on Twitter.
"@Zwelinzima1 It is public knowledge that negotiations are on between Numsa and EFF about whether you or Juju should lead EFF to elections?" Juju is Malema's nickname.
Vavi tweeted: "Who else have heard this 'public knowledge' except some day dreamer with a paranoid mindset? Ndiqhelwa kakubi ngoku (loosely translated as 'some people are getting too cosy with one another')." – Sapa