Money at the centre of unions' woes: Dlamini

Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini has warned union leaders to stop using the unions as their own "cash cows".

Speaking at the Chemical, Engineering, Pulp, Paper, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (Ceppwawu) in Durban on Wednesday, Dlamini warned that money was at the centre of the problems facing many unions, including Ceppwawu.

He did not go into details, but Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi wrote recently in an internal report that Ceppwawu had spent R11-million on internal court battles over control of the union investment company.

"At the centre of all these divisions is money. There is too much money in the union investment company which is at the centre of the latest divisions... the union is in trouble," Vavi wrote.

Dlamini said elections in unions were being "driven and dictated to by service providers based on financial interests".

Factions in unions were labelling each other corrupt in a bid to get elected and carry out the very same corruption, Dlamini said.

"Elections are more about a clarion call that 'it is our time to eat' than a call to battle against capital," Dlamini added.

He cautioned union delegates that union investment companies were not there to provide perks for leaders but were supposed to generate an income to fund the unions' activities.

Dlamini warned that if union leaders did not stop fighting over money, their members would become disillusioned and turn to the DA, and the "demagogues".

Without mentioning the ANC Youth League by name, Dlamini referred to Tuesday's protest outside Luthuli House and said that the country's youth had been "pulled by all sorts of questionable forces".