HANDS OFF CDE VAVI AND START FIGHTING CORRUPTION
NEHAWU is angered by the reports that the ANC's National Working Committee is planning to charge COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi for articulating the CEC's position against corruption.
The union will vehemently oppose any attempt by some corrupt and fascist elements within the ANC to silence our federation by targeting its General Secretary who speaks not for himself but for the millions of workers who elected him.
The majority of Cosatu members might be ANC members but Cosatu is not a labour arm of the ANC but an independent organization and an equal partner in an Alliance whose objective is to bring about comprehensive political and socio-economic transformation of our society.
While we respect the ANC NWC's right to take disciplinary action against any member of the ANC we call on them to guard against being used by a corrupt factional group that is motivated by greed and their elastic ambitions.
The workers will not sit idle while their federation is being treated like a junior partner in the Tripartite Alliance and their leaders targeted for speaking on behalf of the working class and the poor.
NEHAWU fully endorses the CEC's determination to fight the cancer of corruption and we do not expect our class centred federation to abandon the poor people at the hands of greedy vultures by succumbing to the conspiracy of silence and treating corruption as a taboo subject.
The ANC has always been a multiclass, democratic and pro-poor organization that allows divergent views and it is therefore concerning to see this rightwing deviation from the principles of the founding fathers and the emergence of a fascist and dictatorial tendency.
These shenanigans are to be expected in organizations like Cope but not a serious liberation movement that has been entrusted with the future of our country and that of its citizens. We must not allow a small group of tenderpreneurs to divide the ANC and the Alliance and our immediate priority right now should be the implementation of the five identified priorities.
We therefore call for an urgent meeting between the two organizations to address this unacceptable alien tendency that contravenes and violates all matters of protocol amongst Alliance partners before serious damage is done.
We pledge our full support to the collective leadership of our federation especially the General Secretary and we will defend our leaders and our union movement from all those who want to coerce them into silence.Cosatu will never betray the aspirations of our people and will continue to be the voice of the voiceless and to also make a positive contribution in our society.
There will be no looting of the state in our watch!
Statement issued by the NEHAWU Communications Department, June 2 2010
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