Options are being considered: Vavi lawyer

All options are being considered to contest Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's suspension, his lawyer said on Monday.

 

"The position is that all options are still being considered. No final decision has been taken," Dup de Bruyn said. 

 

The Congress of SA Trade Unions leader vowed on Friday to challenge his suspension.

 

"I have instructed my lawyers to challenge the decision to put me on leave of absence pending investigation and possible disciplinary action," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

 

"I believe a grave injustice is being visited on me. I believe that my suspension will be proven to be both procedurally and substantially unfair."

 

He claimed Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini had circulated an "intelligence report" aimed at destroying him.

 

Cosatu announced on Thursday that Vavi had been put on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to an affair he had with a junior Cosatu employee.

 

Last month, the employee accused Vavi of rape. He admitted to having a consensual affair with her. The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.

 

Vavi said the intelligence report, which was distributed at the briefing, aimed to discredit a number of South Africans, including African National Congress MP Tokyo Sexwale, deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, and National Union of Metalworkers of SA general secretary Irvin Jim.

 

According to the report, the Marikana shootings, service delivery protests, and xenophobic attacks were part of a "grand conspiracy" to overthrow the state.

 

He said his lawyers were writing a letter to Intelligence Minister Siyabonga Cwele to determine if the report was a product of state organs.

 

They would also write to the inspector general, who is the intelligence ombudsman, to ask for an investigation to see if state institutions have been abused "to divide workers' organisations and smear individuals".

 

Vavi said Dlamini had publicly found him guilty before a central executive committee meeting, and that leaders of affiliated unions had prejudiced themselves because they were influenced by the report.