I am the only General Secretary says Vavi

09 April 2015 - 22:04 By Bianca Capazorio
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LABOUR OF LOVE: Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is back at his post and will be campaigning on behalf of the ANC, although he still has reservations about its policies
LABOUR OF LOVE: Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is back at his post and will be campaigning on behalf of the ANC, although he still has reservations about its policies
Image: SIMON MATHEBULA

Expelled Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi refuses to relinquish his title until a democratically constituted congress takes the decision.

"I will not call myself a former. I am the only General Secretary. I am the only one to be democratically elected in a workers parliament."

Vavi addressed about 200 shop steward's belonging to the nine renegade Cosatu affiliated unions‚ in Cape Town last night.

Vavi received a rousing welcome by members of " the nine" who sang and chanted "hands off Vavi‚ hands off".

Irvin Jim was billed to join him at the event but he was not present.

He started his address by re-reading the statement he made in Johannesburg after his expulsion from the Union.

Afterwards‚ he detailed the attacks launched on him in the union's leadership battle which ranged from accusing him of theft to being an "agent of international imperialism-a spy sponsored by American money working to force a regime change."

He said several attempts to remove him by Sdumo Dlamini's faction had failed but said his affair with a junior staffer had "played right into their hands when I scored an own goal."

Vavi did not hold anything back as he cited a letter to Numsa by Cosatu‚ requesting reasons why the union should not be suspended.

He said the reasons put forward for Numsa's dismissal in public did not match those in the letter which included Numsa's call for Cosatu to move out of the alliance with the ANC‚ the threat to not pay subscriptions and their refusal to pay a political levy to the SACP.

"Numsa has long regarded the SACP as having sold out the struggle for socialism‚" he said.

Meanwhile‚ Atwell Nazo‚ President of the Food and Allied Workers Union‚ representing the nine unions‚ vowed to fight for the soul of the union rather than start a new union.

He also vowed that they would fight Vavi's expulsion using "all the laws in South Africa."

"You can't dismiss a person without a hearing‚ no matter how drunk you are."

- RDM News Wire

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