Cosatu 'won't be ANC's lapdog'

2010-03-06 14:40

Durban - Cosatu will not be a lapdog to the ANC, Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Saturday.

"They want us to be a lapdog. They say you can make noise during election campaigns and now they say keep quite," said Vavi in Durban on Saturday.

Vavi was responding to a barrage of criticism from the African National Congress this week.

The ANC lambasted Cosatu for saying that a small faction of ANC leadership was attacking the party's secretary general Gwede Mantashe.

Cosatu affiliate the SA Municipal Workers' Union said there were also plans by ANC elements to oust its president, Jacob Zuma.

Addressing the media in Johannesburg, ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Cosatu's comments were "untrue, devious and disingenuous".

'Unfair'

Speaking during a SA Clothing and Textile Workers' Union meeting in Durban, Vavi said Cosatu did not need the ANC's permission to articulate its positions.

"Since when must Cosatu not call press conferences?

"Apparently we should go to Luthuli House quietly whenever we want to say something," he said.

He said it was unfair for the ANC to liken Cosatu to an opposition party.

Vavi said it was true that certain people in the ANC had long mobilised for certain people to be removed from their positions.

He said ANC Youth League leaders also publicly called for certain leaders to be removed from their positions.

The youth league leaders were recently quoted saying they would like Mantashe to be replaced by Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula who is also a former youth league leader.

Succession debate was not necessary

This was after Mantashe failed to protect ANC Youth League president Julius Malema after he was bullied during a SA Communist Party conference.

"Before we have assessed their performance, they are saying let's change this one and that one," said Vavi.

He said the succession debate was not necessary because the ANC elective conference remained far away.

Vavi said the union federation had been called names in the past.

"They are giving us labels. We have been called ultra-left and recently we were called silly people because we dared to raise issues," he said.

One of the thorny issues the union had raised was the implementation of lifestyle audits for ministers and members of parliament.

"When we raised this issue, they said no! You are putting us on the spot," he said.

Vavi said the union federation believed that the issue of lifestyle audits was crucial in the fight against corruption in the public sector.

"We believe that you cannot be a people's champion during the day but at night you count shares that have been obtained through exploitation," he said.

'Too many people involved'

He said MPs, members of provincial legislatures and local councillors supposed to be audited to prevent conflict of interests.

"We believe that the reason why they are rejecting it is because there are too many people who are involved in this practice," he said.

He said life audits would not be done unless unions imposed it on them.

"The majority of ANC members are against corruption and patronage."

There were attempts to silence Vavi and also to divert the union's attention, he said.

"They started by saying that I had a R6 million house and they also said that my wife was involved in tenders. They failed to bring proof," he said.

He said he had been recently accused of having fathered a two-month-old baby out of wedlock.

"We said bring the baby and the mother. They have not done so."

- SAPA