Vavi: Cosatu flouted its constitution

COSATU’S constitution seems to be all that stands between a return to power and a life in the political wilderness for suspended federation leader Zwelinzima Vavi.

The constitution took centre stage yesterday in the Johannesburg High Court on the first day of the hearing of an application for Vavi either to be reinstated as Cosatu’s general secretary – seven months after he was suspended – or expelled.

Lawyers for the applicants, which include Vavi’s staunch backer the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), spoke of blatant disregard for provisions of the Cosatu constitution by the federation’s central executive committee when it met in August last year to suspend Vavi.

Hans van der Riet SC, for Numsa, and Dup de Bruyn SC and Paul Kennedy SC, for Vavi, argued the decision to suspend Vavi was taken by a clique that denied delegates their right and obligation to vote on the matter.

Van der Riet said the suspension decision was reached in a roundabout way after a side caucus of presidents and general secretaries.

“There is no suggestion [in the constitution] that a union can speak on behalf of its delegates, ” he said.

At last year’s committee meeting, the National Union of Mineworkers, the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and police union Popcru emerged as Vavi opponents. But counsel for Cosatu, Karel Tip SC, said Vavi proposed the contentious side caucus after a deadlock.

The court heard delegates did not vote because it would have been disrupting to Cosatu’s unity, which Kennedy described as an absurdity.