Vote on suspended office bearers will settle Vavi vs Jim tussle in tense Saftu congress

The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) congress convening at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg will on Tuesday morning vote on whether four suspended national office bearers must be reinstated.

The decision to subject the thorny matter to a vote came after an all-day stalemate on Monday with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and SA Policing Union (Sapu) in one corner calling for their reinstatement, while the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) and Democratic Transport Logistics and Allied Workers’ Union (Detawu) were putting their foot down.

The four national office bearers were suspended by the Saftu national executive committee (NEC) meeting after their attempts to suspend the federation’s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Numsa has always been of the view that the suspension of the four — who include Saftu president Mac Chavalala, who comes from Numsa ranks — was irregular and unlawful.

According to Numsa, the four did not suspend Vavi and simply did their job by asking him to explain allegations levelled against him.

Numsa argued that the suspension was premature and must be lifted to enable the four to be eligible for re-election at the elective conference.

One of those suspended, Vavi’s deputy Moleko Phakedi, is Numsa’s candidate for general secretary in its quest to dethrone the incumbent.

Numsa and its strong ally Sapu combined make up about 50% of the conference’s voting delegates.

However, Saftu’s second biggest affiliate, Fawu, is standing in Vavi’s corner and has a solid ally in Detawu, which seconds it on all motions in the Irvin Jim against Vavi divide.

Numsa boss Jim is ahead against Vavi after pushing through two motions on Monday.

First was the insistence that the conference be chaired by first deputy president Nomvume Ralarala.

The second victory Jim recorded was forcing the addition and prioritisation of the debate regarding the suspended national office bearers.

After intense debates that went on for hours until supper on Monday, the impasse could not be broken, with congress resolving voting would settle the matter.

Should the voting result in the reinstatement of the four, it is highly likely everything Jim and Numsa seek will be achieved, including the removal of Vavi from the powerful position.

If the reverse is true, Vavi is likely to clinch re-election with ease.

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