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Cosatu axes Willie Madisha
27/02/2008 10:25 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The suspended head of South Africa's main union body, an ally of President Thabo Mbeki, has been expelled after a probe into the disappearance of a large cash donation, media reports said on Wednesday.
Willie Madisha's expulsion was decided at the central executive committee meeting of the labour federation, Cosatu, which considered a report on the missing money, public radio reported.
The Sowetan and Business Day newspapers also said Madisha, a vocal backer of Mbeki, had been fired.
Madisha took voluntary suspension last October pending the outcome of an internal investigation into whether he brought the body into disrepute by making public allegations regarding a R500 000 donation to the South African Communist Party (SACP).
He claimed he had given the money, donated by a businessman, in two refuse bags to SACP head Blade Nzimande, who has denied receiving it.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SACP are junior members of a governing coalition with South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Some see Madisha as the latest victim of a fallout between factions of the ANC and its alliance partners that alternatively support Mbeki and new party head Jacob Zuma.
Relations between Madisha and other Cosatu top brass soured over his support for Mbeki's failed bid last December for a third term as ANC leader. Cosatu and the SACP had endorsed Zuma, who won the party election.
Cosatu General secretary Zwelinzima Vavi declined on Wednesday to confirm Madisha's axing, saying a statement would be issued later.
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