The Cosatu is to seek a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki to raise concerns about alleged interference by ANC members in trade unions. Reliable sources say Cosatu is compiling affidavits from its members providing evidence of alleged interference and intimidation by ANC members.

The Cosatu has drafted a letter to Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Intelligence, on concerns that five of its affiliates have been infiltrated by government intelligence operatives. Among the affiliates named is the beleaguered National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union.

Vusi Nhlapo, president of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) is not an employee, as required by the union’s constitution.

Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe made it clear this week that the government is to press ahead with privatisation — suggesting tumultuous times ahead for the ruling alliance. The general secretary of Cosatu, Zwelinzima Vavi, voiced ”frustration” over speeches by government ministers.

Constitutional Court Judge Johann Kriegler cut to the heart of the floor-crossing controversy this week, saying that he had ”great difficulty” in accepting the defection law was an honest reflection of the people’s will.

The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal is split from top to bottom between supporters of current party chairperson S’bu Ndebele and his deputy Zweli Mkhize for the top leadership position. The province will elect its new party office bearers in the next month.

The removal of Langa Zita, the South African Communist Party’s national coordinator, from the party’s top leadership is seen as more revealing of the party’s newfound assertiveness than the ousting of government ministers Jeff Radebe and Essop Pahad.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) planned anti-privatisation strike has been timed to precede the African National Congress’s national conference as a pressure tactic, it was learned this week. The strike will take place a month before the ANC conference in Stellenbosch.

Still smarting from the African National Congress backlash against their anti-privatisation campaign last year, trade unionists and left-wingers in the party are expected to withdraw support from Mosiuoa Lekota in favour of Jacob Zuma for the deputy presidency of the ANC.