Corruption Watch says it's not investigating any unions

No labour union is currently being investigated by Corruption Watch (CW), the anti-graft organisation said on Tuesday.

"The Corruption Watch board members emphatically affirm that no unions are presently being investigated," it said in a statement.

"[However] Corruption Watch is committed to exposing and fighting the abuse of public resources. This involves corruption in government and the private sector, but also in all non-government or civil society organisations which must enjoy public confidence, including trade unions."

Corruption Watch was responding to a news report in which Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Sidumo Dlamini claimed the organisation was interfering in union matters.

Dlamini was quoted as saying he believed this meddling was deliberate.

According to the report, this was likely to fuel tensions between Cosatu leadership and its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who sits on Corruption Watch's board.

Dlamini said Corruption Watch was involving itself in Cosatu's internal struggles, as it appeared to be focusing on politically driven cases.

He described Cosatu's internal politics as a "struggle within a struggle".

Corruption Watch said it handled all complaints equally, regardless of who was involved.

"Corruption Watch board non-executive directors are not involved in operational matters, such as deciding on investigations," it said.

"In fact, when the organisation was established, a decision was taken never to discuss the details of particular reports and investigations with the board to avoid conflict of interest."

Corruption Watch said of 1500 cases of corruption it received from the public in 2012, only 13 implicated unions.

It said a Mail & Guardian report that stated Corruption Watch was investigating leaders of at least four Cosatu affiliates for alleged corruption related to their union members' investment money was "simply wrong".

Corruption Watch said executive director David Lewis clarified the matter in the report.

He said Cosatu affiliates were implicated in eight of these reports --the SA Transport And Allied Workers' Union (Satawu), the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, the SA Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers' Union, the Public and Allied Workers' Union of SA, and the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers' Union.

"We conducted a preliminary investigation into one of these, namely a report alleging corruption in Satawu," he said.

"However, when we read media reports to the effect that formal charges have been levelled against certain Satawu officials we decided not to proceed with our investigation."