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COSATU Jubilant After Victory over NUMSA COSATU says NUMSA abused the trust of its members by appealing for its inclusion in the federation's congress Govan Whittles, Eye Witness News, Johannesburg, 9 June 2015 Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) says National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) abused the trust of its members by appealing for its inclusion in the federation's <http://ewn.co.za/2015/06/09/Vavi-backs-calls-for-Numsa-to-be-at-Cosatu-cong ress> special national congress and it's confident the tide will soon turn against breakaway union. NUMSA has been ordered <http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Numsa> to pay COSATU's legal bills after the application was deemed not urgent and struck off the roll in the High Court in Johannesburg. NUMSA approached the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday, asking that the union be urgently included <http://ewn.co.za/2015/06/09/Verdict-expected-in-Numsas-Cosatu-reinstatement -bid> in next month's congress before COSATU's accreditation committee meets on Wednesday. The trade union federation says unions that have been supporting the metalworkers' union <http://ewn.co.za/2015/06/09/Limusa-against-Numsa-attending-Special-National -Congress> will also soon return to the federation. COSATU's acting general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said: "We don't believe the matter should have been brought to the court. We have argued that this is an abuse of power and have proven to be correct. Over time comrades will realise that it is a futile exercise as COSATU matters should be resolved through COSATU's internal processes." Most of COSATU's leaders were in court along with the leaders of unions loyal to the metalworkers' union. Earlier, former COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said he would only appeal his dismissal from COSATU at the congress if NUMSA was allowed to attend. Vavi argued that workers should be allowed to decide whether NUMSA returns to the fold. JUDGE DESCRIBES NUMSA'S APPLICATION AS AFTERTHOUGHT Acting judge Mandla Mbongwe described NUMSA's application as an afterthought <http://ewn.co.za/Media/2015/06/08/Numsa-Takes-Cosatu-To-Court> and said the union should have lodged it in February. Mbongwe also reaffirmed COSATU's view that the special national congress does not have the same power as an ordinary congress. That ordinary congress, taking place in November, is where the judge says NUMSA should lodge its appeal. <http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Numsa-expelled-from-Cosatu> But it's unclear if this will happen with the metalworkers' union members allowed in the congress with voting rights. Describing how NUMSA approached the courts, Mbongwe said it was like someone watching a fire and failing to react until it reached their doorstep. Speaking outside court Vavi described the outcome as the end of the road for their battle to return to the federation. The special national congress is scheduled for 13 and 14 July. (Edited by Refilwe Pitjeng) From: http://ewn.co.za/2015/06/09/Cosatu-hails-its-victory-over-Numsa -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
