Spy+drama+hits+Cosatu,+Msomi+and+Kgosana,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 02/09/2006 19:51 - (SA)
=Spy drama hits Cosatu=


 * S’Thembiso Msomi**

THE Cosatu leadership battle has taken another nasty turn with a top union leader resigning amid accusations that he was spying on South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande.

The spying allegations appear to be behind the sudden resignation of a Cosatu leader this week.

Cosatu’s first vice-president, Joe Nkosi, a close ally of president Willie Madisha – perceived to lead a pro-President Thabo Mbeki “camp” in the federation – announced his resignation two weeks before the national congress.

City Press has learnt that Nkosi’s surprise resignation came barely a week after SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, a close associate of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, wrote a letter to Cosatu claiming that Nkosi was spying on him.

The letter is in the possession of Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, another Zuma supporter and a rival of Madisha.

Nkosi yesterday denied the claims and said his resignation had nothing to do with the letter.

There was also drama yesterday at the national congress of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) as an anti-Madisha lobby in the union tried to push through a resolution to force him not to stand for re-election at Cosatu’s national congress later this month.

Delegates from the Eastern Cape, the home province of another pro-Zuma unionist Thulas Nxesi, proposed that Madisha “focus on his position as Sadtu president” and that he should therefore not stand for the Cosatu position.

This threw the congress into chaos as Madisha’s supporters, mainly from Limpopo and Gauteng, angrily heckled their opponents.

They chanted slogans, sang protest songs and hurled insults at the Eastern Cape delegation. The congress had to be stopped for a while as the union’s top leadership held a special meeting to resolve the matter. The Eastern Cape eventually withdrew the motion.

A similar proposal was made and rejected at a workshop of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Friday.

Insiders say the move to prevent Madisha from standing is linked to a broader “pro-Zuma camp” attempt to rid Cosatu of “Mbeki loyalists” before the much-awaited ANC national conference in December next year where Zuma is expected to stand for the presidency.

Madisha, Nkosi and Numsa general secretary Slumko Nondwangu are seen as pro-Mbeki camp ringleaders.

Nkosi resigned from Cosatu this week saying that he wanted to focus on his studies and return to his company in Witbank.

But others say if his resignation was genuine, he would have waited until the Cosatu congress which starts on September 18, before his announcement.

Just over a week before he resigned, Nzimande had written a letter of complaint to Vavi relating to claims that Nkosi had tried to “recruit” an Nzimande bodyguard and driver into spying on him.

The bodyguard has written an affidavit claiming that Nkosi had wanted him to keep tabs on Nzimande’s movements.

Vavi yesterday confirmed he had received a letter from the SACP but refused to comment further.

SACP national spokesperson Malesela Maleka also confirmed that a complaint was laid with Cosatu but that the party “will not discuss security issues relating to our general secretary” in public.

Both camps scored morale-boosting victories at Sadtu’s congress. Madisha fended off the campaign that he should not stand for Cosatu presidency while Vavi’s pointsman at Sadtu, Thulas Nxesi, was re-elected general secretary.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/News/0,,186-187_1992611,00.html**

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