Numsa defends Vavi over DA 'onslaught'

ONE of trade union federation Cosatu's biggest affiliates, Numsa, has come out in defence of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi over what it perceives as an attack by the DA

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said at the weekend that the official opposition's planned march on Cosatu's Johannesburg headquarters in the coming weeks was a thinly veiled attack against Vavi.

Addressing Numsa's Sedibeng regional congress, Jim said: "Numsa wants to serve a timely warning to the DA and the vested white capitalist class interests it represents [that] they are embarking on a dangerous and unwinnable class struggle with the power of the black and African working class."

Tensions between the DA and Cosatu have been festering for months, with the two organisations' leaders taking on each other in public.

In March, DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko criticised Vavi for declining an invitation to debate the proposed youth wage subsidy, which could have seen hundreds of thousands of unemployed youths entering the job market.

Tensions between Vavi and Zille rose again when the DA announced it would march to Cosatu House over the federation's opposition to the youth wage subsidy.

Yesterday, Zille rejected claims made by Vavi in the Sunday Times that the DA leader made advances to recruit him into the ranks of the official opposition.

Said Zille in a statement: "Zwelinzima certainly has a lively imagination. Next he'll probably say I asked him to marry me." - molatlhwao@sowetan.co.za