Rebellion planned by Vavi's allies

SUPPORTERS of suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi are planning a rebellion and a defiance campaign to save him.

Vavi will go to court to challenge his suspension, which came after a heated meeting of Cosatu's central executive committee on Wednesday.

Vavi faced charges related to having had sex with a Cosatu employee at the union federation's headquarters. She was also suspended.

Those who want Vavi out of Cosatu are celebrating what they believe is the beginning of his demise.

His supporters - notably the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) - are planning to encourage members to clamour for Vavi's return.

This morning the Food and Allied Workers will hold a meeting of senior officials to decide the way forward.

The Kokstad region of the SA Democratic Teachers' Union is expected to adopt a motion supporting Vavi. A march to Cosatu's Braamfontein head office is being planned.

The South African Municipal Workers' Union - another union supporting Vavi - will convene a central executive committee meeting on Tuesday at which a fightback plan is likely to be hatched.

It will be at Numsa's special congress in December that the real impact of Vavi's suspension from Cosatu is likely to be felt.

The union's general secretary, Irvin Jim, a vocal Vavi supporter, said that all options would be on the table, including a possible withdrawal from Cosatu and a rethink of the union's support for the ANC.

Until then, shop stewards and regional leaders would be encouraged to rebel against the national leaders who were pushing Vavi out of Cosatu, he said.

The rebellion is likely to kick off in the Eastern Cape, where motor industry employees and teachers are said to support Vavi.

Jim has also called for a special congress of Cosatu to take a final decision on what should happen to Vavi.

"Our members are up in arms about the suspension of Zwelinzima Vavi. They want Zweli back in the office, and as Numsa national leadership, we have no other agenda except to do that.

"We view this thing as stealing the product of the workers ... don't steal the product of the workers in the boardroom," said Jim.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe blasted Vavi and Jim yesterday. "This is unprecedented. It is the worst case of organisational ill-discipline. If the ANC takes me through a disciplinary process, the worst thing I can ever do is to go out and attack the ANC. That is unheard of," he said.

On Friday Vavi released what he said was an intelligence report that Cosatu president S'dumo Dlamini had circulated to smear his image.

Dlamini declined to comment on the report, saying he knew nothing about it.

The report, dismissed in many quarters as baseless, claims that Vavi is planning to launch his own political party next year and is working with opposition parties and civil-society groups to destabilise South Africa.

"That report is a complete concoction and rubbish. It was designed to turn gullible people against me and they have succeeded," said Vavi.

He said he was being persecuted by his enemies when he had broken no laws, nor any of Cosatu's internal policies.

"I have acknowledged that [sex with a colleague] was inappropriate ... because it can always be interpreted that there will be power relations issues in all cases where a leader embarks on intimate relationships with staff. That is what I have apologised for over and over again."

Dlamini dismissed suggestions that the process to suspend Vavi was unfair.

" Everyone was given an opportunity to speak. Those who opposed his suspension participated in the discussions and were defeated," he said.