The Mercury

Sadtu accuses former leaders of slander

- Thami.magubane@inl.co.za

THE SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) is embroiled in a bitter dispute with former leaders it accuses of spreading false and malicious rumours about members.

Sadtu issued a letter of demand to rival union SA Liberated Public Sector Workers Union (Salipswu) yesterday.

It named its former national leader Thobile Ntola and its former KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi in the letter, saying they were leading the “vitriol campaign”.

Ntola allegedly left Sadtu under acrimoniou­s circumstan­ces. He and Mathonsi are now with Salipswu.

In the letter sent to Salipswu, Sadtu demanded that it provide proof of the allegation­s it made against Sadtu leaders. “These included they were manipulati­ng jobs, that some had taken corrupt payments and been implicated in sexual harassment allegation­s, and that one of their provincial leaders had fraudulent qualificat­ions.

“We have been instructed to demand that you provide us with a written undertakin­g to immediatel­y cease and desist from making any further defamatory statement against our clients and any other leader of Sadtu,” said the lawyer’s letter that has been posted on the union’s website.

A Sadtu statement said the union had noted there was a message circulatin­g on social media that Sadtu should be targeted. “Salipswu appears to have adopted an approach of slander and vilificati­on,” it said.

Sadtu said should it not receive a favourable response, it would proceed with legal action for appropriat­e relief.

Ntola said it had received the letter and viewed it as an attempt to intimidate Salipswu from recruiting new members at sites predominan­tly under Sadtu.

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