Quotes: We find Zwelinzima Vavi at his new "operations centre" in downtown Johannesburg. Unlike Cosatu House in Braamfontein, where there is always a bustle of activity, the place Vavi now works from has just a few people around in sparsely furnished offices. Vavi came in for a heavy beating at the congress over the sex scandal that he was involved in two years ago. Two women delegates from Sadtu and transport union Satawu spoke strongly against the exploitation of women in the workplace and condemned Vavi for evading disciplinary action for having sex with a Cosatu staff member at the office. Vavi says the issue is being used as a "political tool". "They want to shut me up and present me as immoral." He said people who raised this issue continuously were not doing so because they were champions of a "non sexist gender conscious revolution". "They raise it only because they have a political opponent to beat. The people shouting in the mikes were more than likely asked to do so by men who have children from staff members in the offices themselves." "It is a political baton to try and deal with me. I don't take it seriously. If it were raised by feminists from principled point of view, it would be different. I agree it's a problem and that is why I apologised over and over," Vavi said. Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick For Vavi and Numsa, their course of action is clear. The special Cosatu national congress this week was a test of whether the balance of forces was in their favour. Simply put, it was not. Secret ballot or show of hands - it would not have made a difference. Natasha Marrian, Business Day -- -- 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.
