ANC: Cosatu's problems not insurmountable

"The problems in Cosatu are not different from those it had in the 1980s," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

"The problem is limited experience by leaders to manage a federal organisation with different views. What Numsa is doing is not different from what it did in the 1980s."

On Sunday, Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi announced he would not take part in the trade union federation's special central executive committee meeting which started on Monday.

 He would also not resign from Cosatu as widely speculated, he said.

Vavi, supported by members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), said he was not guilty of any wrongdoing regarding the purchase of the new Cosatu headquarters, and the sale of the old one. A forensic report handed to the CEC last month implicated Vavi.

Numsa was expelled from Cosatu in November.

Mantashe said one could not resolve Cosatu's problems "through a traditional African" method.

"You can't slaughter the beast and hope that you will get more. You don't collapse an organisation with the intention of growing it... it will disappear instead.

"You don't facilitate a walk-away. I don't remember Numsa in its life winning an ideological debate."

An expulsion was the easiest decision, he said.

"Consistently an expulsion is the easiest route today it seems, but what happens after that?"