COSATU's response to Helen Zille
The Congress of South African Trade Unions rejects with utter contempt the ludicrous and defamatory accusation by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, that "Zwelinzima Vavi is engaged in a campaign to construct for himself a power base, from which he will attempt to capture the alliance at the ANC's 2017 conference".
Her outburst is motivated purely by envy at COSATU's ability to mobilise millions of South Africans of all races in its campaigns, something which she knows she can never do. So she resorts to personalising a political attack on the trade unions with a smear against one of its leaders.
The COSATU General Secretary is highly popular and respected, democratically elected workers' representative who works under a mandate from successive COSATU National Congresses, whose delegates are elected by the federation's over two million members.
Comrade Vavi has repeatedly denied that he has any ambitions other than to be a workers' representative and a spokesperson of the exploited and poor majority of South Africans. He has resisted pressure to stand for the ANC National Executive Committee precisely because it might undermine his position as the voice of the workers.
There is not a word of the truth in Zille's absurd allegation against him, and even less in her even more ridiculous suggestion that "President Jacob Zuma's government is in office, but it is not in power", because "COSATU exercises a veto over government policy in education, labour and economic reform."