Zwelinzima Vavi was dismissed as Cosatu general secretary after a special central executive committee (CEC) meeting decided he was guilty of gross misconduct.

"Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi is dismissed as the general secretary of Cosatu with immediate effect," Congress of SA Trade Unions deputy general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali told reporters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Vavi had continued to meet people who had been suspended from Cosatu and he had violated its code of conduct.

"Many of these have declared their intentions to destroy Cosatu unions and thereby destroy the federation as a whole."

Vavi had not attended an ordinary CEC meeting at the beginning of March, or the special CEC meeting on Monday and Tuesday to explain his behaviour.

"By not coming to this CEC to explain his conduct he therefore waived his right to put his side of the story.

"This is in addition to his refusal to co-operate in giving his side of the story on serious allegations contained in the Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo report."

The CEC had concluded that Vavi's conduct constituted "gross misconduct".

"The general secretary has in the recent past abused the trust given to him by the federation... And he continues to do so with impunity."

On Sunday, Vavi said he would not resign.

"This is a deliberate act of defiance on my part, even if in the end it turns out to be symbolic," he told reporters in Johannesburg.