Numsa Calls For Cosatu Special Congress After Vavi Ruling
Friday 4 April 2014 15:08
SABC
The Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) affiliated unions that support Zwelinzima Vavi say they are vindicated after the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg declared his suspension invalid and unlawful.
In August 2013, Cosatu put Vavi on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to his affair with a junior colleague. Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo reserved judgment last week after hearing arguments from counsels for Vavi, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa ( Numsa) and Cosatu.
Numsa has been leading the legal bid to have Vavi reinstated. It had insisted that his suspension was politically-motivated.
Numsa then lodged an application in the high court challenging the decision.
"If the Cosatu national office bearers are democrats, if they believe in the future of the federation of Elijah Barayi and Jay Naidoo, they would take a conscious decision to step down and resign immediately and convene a Cosatu Special National Congress," says Numsa Deputy General-Secretary Karl Cloete.
In its reaction, the Workers' and Socialist Party says the ruling is a victory for Cosatu members. Wasp said in a statement: "Dlamini and co have pursued their vendetta against Vavi on behalf of the ANC, who sees it as a strategic objective to suffocate the resistance of the organised working class to the ANC's anti-working class policies."
The Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu), a Cosatu affiliate, also welcomed the court ruling. "The Fawu welcomes the judgment... as nothing but confirmation of the need for common sense to prevail in dealing with the crisis within Cosatu," general secretary Katishi Masemola said in a statement.
Masemola said Fawu hoped Cosatu's national office bearers and the unions which had supported Vavi's suspension would not pursue further legal steps.
It encouraged him to return to work as Cosatu's general secretary as soon as his daughter had recovered from a car accident. Vavi was not in court because his daughter was in a car crash in Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday.
"Fawu will still take legal advice on how to launch a lawsuit to individual leaders of the federation and of supporting affiliated unions should they proceed to make an appeal and take other legally-flawed decisions yet utilising resources of Cosatu to defend such steps," Masemola said.
Cosatu says it will study the implications of the ruling at a special central executive committee meeting.
Vavi’s family says they are happy that justice has been served. His wife Noluthando says he has been vindicated.
"I’ve got mixed feelings, one I'm happy that as a family we have been vindicated because we've been saying this suspension is illegal and we're not happy about it and the sad feeling for me is like I became very emotional because I was asking myself why, why would your own comrades that you have been fighting with in the trenches will act so badly against you."
Meanwhile, Cosatu says it will study the implications of the ruling at a special central executive committee meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday before it decides on its next action.
The federation’s spokesperson Patrick Craven says that Vavi can resume his duties with immediate effect.
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| Irvin Jim Secretary General of NUMSA. |
SABC
The Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) affiliated unions that support Zwelinzima Vavi say they are vindicated after the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg declared his suspension invalid and unlawful.
In August 2013, Cosatu put Vavi on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to his affair with a junior colleague. Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo reserved judgment last week after hearing arguments from counsels for Vavi, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa ( Numsa) and Cosatu.
Numsa has been leading the legal bid to have Vavi reinstated. It had insisted that his suspension was politically-motivated.
Numsa then lodged an application in the high court challenging the decision.
"If the Cosatu national office bearers are democrats, if they believe in the future of the federation of Elijah Barayi and Jay Naidoo, they would take a conscious decision to step down and resign immediately and convene a Cosatu Special National Congress," says Numsa Deputy General-Secretary Karl Cloete.
In its reaction, the Workers' and Socialist Party says the ruling is a victory for Cosatu members. Wasp said in a statement: "Dlamini and co have pursued their vendetta against Vavi on behalf of the ANC, who sees it as a strategic objective to suffocate the resistance of the organised working class to the ANC's anti-working class policies."
The Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu), a Cosatu affiliate, also welcomed the court ruling. "The Fawu welcomes the judgment... as nothing but confirmation of the need for common sense to prevail in dealing with the crisis within Cosatu," general secretary Katishi Masemola said in a statement.
Masemola said Fawu hoped Cosatu's national office bearers and the unions which had supported Vavi's suspension would not pursue further legal steps.
It encouraged him to return to work as Cosatu's general secretary as soon as his daughter had recovered from a car accident. Vavi was not in court because his daughter was in a car crash in Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape, on Thursday.
"Fawu will still take legal advice on how to launch a lawsuit to individual leaders of the federation and of supporting affiliated unions should they proceed to make an appeal and take other legally-flawed decisions yet utilising resources of Cosatu to defend such steps," Masemola said.
Cosatu says it will study the implications of the ruling at a special central executive committee meeting.
Vavi’s family says they are happy that justice has been served. His wife Noluthando says he has been vindicated.
"I’ve got mixed feelings, one I'm happy that as a family we have been vindicated because we've been saying this suspension is illegal and we're not happy about it and the sad feeling for me is like I became very emotional because I was asking myself why, why would your own comrades that you have been fighting with in the trenches will act so badly against you."
Meanwhile, Cosatu says it will study the implications of the ruling at a special central executive committee meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday before it decides on its next action.
The federation’s spokesperson Patrick Craven says that Vavi can resume his duties with immediate effect.
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