'Cosatu under ANC's thumb'

Cosatu is a house divided.

Its three-day central executive committee meeting suggests the once-powerful federation is increasingly fragile .

At the centre of the rift is Cosatu's general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's suspension after he had a sexual liaison with a junior staff member.

The National Union of Metalworkers wants Vavi reinstated so that he can complete his term but, said Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim, it was being isolated from Cosatu for taking this stance.

Jim said the ANC and the SA Communist Party were sowing division in Cosatu.

He identified ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande as the primary drivers of this division.

Cosatu leaders said yesterday the nine member unions that had requested a special congress had failed to submit an agenda .

But Jim and his deputy Karl Kloete said an agenda had been laid out and it included the matter of Vavi's reinstatement and the possible re-election of Cosatu national office bearers.

But though Cosatu commands 2.2million members, it has been forced to bow to a number of proposals by the ANC and the SACP that Jim said placed "the working class under attack".

Despite this, Cosatu would campaign for the ANC ahead of the 2014 general elections, possibly because it could stand to lose even more if it abandoned the ANC .

Cosatu supported Zuma in the run-up to the ANC's conference in Polokwane in 2007 - then promoted as "a man of the people" who would listen to workers' complaints.

But Cosatu has had numerous policy disputes with the Zuma administration, including the Employment Tax Incentive Bill, which was passed yesterday by parliament.

Cosatu has branded the bill "a new version of the discredited Youth Wage Subsidy" .

Cosatu also criticised Zuma's administration for forcing through the bill even after not all parties at the National Economic Development and Labour Council agreed to it.

"[Nedlac] is about our existence.

"If we allowed Nedlac to die, who would take us seriously?" asked Cosatu deputy general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali.