Kingdom Mabuza

Kingdom Mabuza

Cosatu refused to be drawn into a storm created when their delegation threatened to walk out of the ANC's yearly lekgotla at the weekend.

The Cosatu delegation led by its secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi were apparently fuming when Jabu Moleketi, a member of the ANC national executive committee and deputy minister of finance, warned the labour federation to ditch its attempts to turn the ruling party into a socialist party.

In a statement released yesterday Cosatu said it "will not comment on reports that Cosatu representatives almost walked out of the ANC lekgotla".

Cosatu refused to comment "because the report was based on a leak from an anonymous source, a practice we have consistently condemned".

Vavi was apparently fuming and had to be calmed down and begged not to leave the meeting.

Vavi and his colleagues could not stomach the ANC's insistence and endorsement of the party's economic policy as both comprehensive and correct.

Speaking to journalists in Johannesburg yesterday about the outcome of the lekgotla, ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said the meeting had debated ways to fight poverty.

"The lekgotla reviewed the broad range of action undertaken by the ANC-led government to alleviate poverty and to progressively advance towards its eradication," Ngonyama said.

He said the lekgotla specifically identified the establishment of a broad front for development as a primary task for the movement this year.