NUMSA TO CHALLENGE COSATU GENERAL SECRETARY'S SUSPENSION IN COURT
9 September 2013, Johannesburg
Irvin Jim General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has instructed our lawyers, Vasco de Oliveira, to serve Cosatu with legal papers after failing to rescind and uplift the "unconstitutional" and unprecedented suspension of COSATU General Secretary comrade Zwelinzima Vavi. We can confirm that FAWU and SAFPU are co applicants to Numsa's court application.
Comrade Vavi was suspended three (3) weeks ago by an unconstitutional Special Central Executive Committee (CEC) held on August 14, 2013.
The union has been forced to take a legal process since Cosatu's internal and democratic processes are being undermined and flouted.
This painful decision taken by the Numsa Special Central Committee for Numsa to legally challenge its own federation did not come lightly nor is it our preferred option of engagement but the sequence of events since the 11th National Congress of Cosatu held in September 2012 shows a clear agenda to have the democratically elected Cosatu General Secretary removed.
We now know that the sex saga has delivered Vavi's head on a silver platter to those who had wanted him removed in the September 2012 Cosatu National Congress.
We now know that Comrades have called for Vavi's suspension in the February and May 2013 CEC's.
We now know that Cosatu has been paralyzed since the September 2012 by the agenda to drive out Comrade Vavi.
We now know that a "rogue intelligence report" was used to set in motion the Facilitated Process to investigate Cosatu's political and ideological outlook. Unprecedented in the history of Cosatu, a credible left formation has outsourced its political and ideological perspectives to private individuals.
The union wishes to advise that it will no longer publicly comment on this matter since it is now in the hands of the courts. We will only comment once court process has been concluded.
Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, September 2 2013
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