Cosatu charges Vavi - after five months

Cosatu has finally mustered enough courage to charge Zwelinzima Vavi with misconduct, five months after it suspended him.

Vavi's spokesman, John Dludlu, said he had received a charge sheet from Cosatu yesterday.

"Vavi has received a charge sheet from Cosatu with all manner of allegations against him," Dludlu said.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven refused to comment on the grounds that "this is an internal matter".

The charges against the Cosatu general secretary are likely to further divide workers whose unions are affiliated to the labour federation and hurt the ANC's election campaign.

Vavi's stoutest defender in Cosatu, the National Union of Metal Workers of SA, also refused to comment.

"It will be premature for us to comment until we see the charge sheet," said Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese.

Dludlu said Vavi was consulting his allies about what to do next.

"We are in consultation with both our lawyers and allies within and outside the federation. Until then, we won't be commenting further."

Though the charges have not been publicly enumerated, it is expected that Vavi will be asked to answer to reports that he had sex with a junior staff member in his office at Cosatu House.

When he was suspended, in August, Numsa queried the constitutionality of the meeting that endorsed his taking mandatory "special leave".

Numsa, accused by some unions in Cosatu and by some elements within the ANC and SA Communist Party of being a source of tension within the ANC-led tripartite alliance, is expected to argue that the charges against Vavi have been levelled at him because he spoke out against corruption in the ruling party.

Cosatu's decision to charge Vavi raises speculation that it is planning to purge him. There have been recent unverified reports that he has had secret meetings with Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters.