Vavi expelled: report

The Congress of SA Trade Unions has expelled its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, SABC news reported on Monday.

SABC News tweeted: "#SABCNews has reliably learnt that #Cosatu general secretary #Zwelinzima #Vavi has been expelled. What's your reaction? @SABCNewsOnline".

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven was not immediately available to comment but sent out a statement changing a planned press conference from 3pm to noon on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Vavi said he was not resigning from the federation.

"This is a deliberate act of defiance on my part, even if in the end it turns out to be symbolic," he told reporters at a briefing in Johannesburg at the time.

"It sends a message to workers that we must refuse to hand the organisation over on a platter, and must not only walk away when all alternatives to rescue it have been exhausted."

Cosatu belonged to all its members, and not any faction or clique, he said.

Vavi called a media conference to make "an important announcement," with many speculating that the beleaguered unionist would leave the federation.

He said he would not attend the federation's upcoming special executive committee meeting.

"If my refusal to attend the special CEC is used as a pretext to fire me, then so be it," he said.

"There comes a time in the life of every organisation, and every individual, when we have to submit to the dictates of our conscience."

The federation was holding a special CEC on Monday and Tuesday.

Vavi did not attend a CEC meeting on March 2, and instead attended a case in the High Court in Pretoria brought by mineworkers against Aurora.

He would focus on the needs of workers, he said.

The embattled trade union federation has been dealing with its unions supporting either Vavi or Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini.