Craven quits Cosatu

[caption id="attachment_76144" align="alignright" width="300"] UNION MAN: Zwelinzima Vavi, right, appears to chuckle during a media briefing yesterday Picture: MOELETSI MABE -[/caption]

Labour crisis deepens as spokesman follows Vavi

COSATU national spokesman Patrick Craven has followed axed general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi out of the trade union federation. Craven’s move follows Vavi’s being voted out of the federation during a special central executive committee meeting on Monday.

Speaking at a media briefing called by Vavi and the eight unions that support the fired general secretary, Craven said he had resigned because decisions by Cosatu’s central executive‚ including Vavi’s expulsion‚ were unfair.

He becomes the first prominent Cosatu leader to snub the labour federation in protest at Vavi’s removal by a group in the central executive associated with Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini.

“I could not defend the indefensible and I disagreed with the decisions‚” Craven said.

-Mkhululi Ndamase