Cosatu meeting disrupters not 'legit' Samwu members: union

Disgruntled "former members" of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) have disrupted a central executive committee meeting of Cosatu in a bid to vent their frustrations to the trade union federation.

According to Samwu's spokesperson Papikie Mohale‚ members who disrupted the meeting are not Samwu members in good-standing as they were expelled from the union in March last year.

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"There are no grievances that have been raised by Samwu members in Cosatu so I would assume that whoever is behind this would not be our members. We are for a united Cosatu and we believe that Cosatu should proceed in doing its work. We are looking forward to their central committee and it would not be in our interest to disrupt this meeting as it is sitting now‚" said Mohale.

"I received a report from our Johannesburg region informing me about something of this nature taking place and they have assured me that [these] are not our members‚ [instead] it is people who have been expelled from the union. There is no way that this could be our members‚" said Mohale.

He reiterated that "legit" Samwu members would not defeat the purpose of fixing the union’s problems.

"Our members are disciplined‚ they would not even going to an extent of disrupting a meeting that is supposed to make sure that the work of the federation continues. These are just people who continue to use the union's name and who put our name into disrepute while they know very well that they are not within Samwu‚" added Mohale.

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However‚ contacted for comment‚ Congress of South African Trade Union spokesman Sizwe Pamla‚ said those "members" made a request to be given some time to address the one-day special central executive meeting of Cosatu to raise their concerns.

"After the agreement with the entire CEC‚ they were allowed to come inside the venue so that we could hear their grievances. I'm not in the meeting but I'm sure they are here to discuss some of the issues that were raised last year when some members of Samwu wanted Cosatu to take over Samwu‚ said Pamla.

He said that could not be possible as the labour relations act doesn't allow a federation to take over its affiliates under administration.

"I'm sure they are here to raise issues that pertain to the difficulties that the union is experiencing. We are obviously not going to communicate that on their behalf because we have been intervening with affiliates with regards to infighting that are taking place.”

In February last year‚ about 87 Samwu officials and leaders across the country were either expelled or suspended after they allegedly questioned the missing millions from Samwu coffers.

The expelled group accused senior union officials of pocketing about R136 million.

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Samwu has been at war with itself for the past few years with the union's whistle blowers‚ Save Our Samwu (SOS)‚ alleging the looting of the union's financial reserves.

Cosatu will hold its 6th central committee meeting between the 29th of May and 1st of June 2017 at St Georges Conference Centre‚ Irene Pretoria.

According to Pamla‚ the purpose of the four-day meeting will be to make an assessment of the implementation of Cosatu's 12th National Congress resolutions and campaigns and to also use the meeting to prepare for both the policy and consultative conferences of the African National Congress and also for the congress of the South African Communist Party.