WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-06-08 Time: 13:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Karima Brown
Johannesburg – THE African National Congress (ANC) yesterday quietly dropped all discussion about sanctions against Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, following a meeting of the party’s national working committee in Limpopo.
While ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe last night refused to be drawn into the matter, saying: “I cannot comment on any discussions of the ANC, only decisions,” Business Day understands the matter has been laid to rest after it was discussed by the party’s top six leaders before the committee meeting.
Several ANC leaders who opposed plans to censure Mr Vavi apparently spoke out about how such a move was unprecedented in the history of the tripartite alliance and that there were no (ANC) constitutional grounds for the planned censure during the committee’s discussions yesterday.
The climb-down suggests that the move against Mr Vavi did not enjoy unanimous support within the top echelons of the ANC to begin with. It also signals yet another defeat for ANC Youth L eague leader Julius Malema and efforts to unseat Mr Mantashe and have him replaced by Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula in the battle for control of the ruling party.
By letting the Vavi matter go, the ANC also defused the loaded political environment within the tripartite alliance, ahead of today’s all-important meeting of the alliance political council in Pretoria.
However, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda’s threat of legal action unless Mr Vavi apologises for reportedly intimating that he was corrupt is still on the cards.
But many in the tripartite alliance interpret Gen Nyanda’s threat as a hasty “plan B” to deal with Mr Vavi, especially after it became clear last week that efforts by some leaders of the ANC to have him charged appeared to have been torpedoed.
This view has gained currency because by last night, Mr Vavi had still not received any formal notification of being disciplined since the working committee decided to charge him last week. But even if charges were formulated (and they would first have to be referred to the ANC’s national disciplinary committee), those who wanted to censure Mr Vavi in an ANC process would have been hard-pressed to find evidence of wrongdoing on his part.
That is mainly because he would have spoken in his capacity as leader of Cosatu, over which the ANC has no jurisdiction.
While Cosatu is in an alliance with the ruling party and bound by agreements within the alliance, it guards its independence jealously and has unsurprisingly put ANC leaders on notice that efforts to silence it will not be tolerated.
More important, Cosatu’s warning that proposed disciplinary action against Mr Vavi threatens to undo the alliance has upped the ante considerably.
“This matter stands between us, whether we like it or not,” says Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini. “It overshadows the important … political council meeting that has to discuss major issues.”
By raising the stakes, Cosatu has created an impasse in the alliance, the only elegant way out of which is action by the aggrieved parties in a private process. This lets the ANC off the hook, but allows invested individuals recourse, albeit through the courts.
Moreover, the fact that the ANC has officially chosen to take the fifth on the Vavi fracas, while Cosatu has gone on the offensive publicly, suggests the ANC is far from united on the matter and would not be averse to letting it slide.
The party may yet be forced to take sides, however. There is no predicting the course of a politically inspired libel action against Mr Vavi. Those with short memories need only ask former president Thabo Mbeki, or the former heads of the National Prosecuting Authority, about the unintended consequences of pursuing political ends through court action.
While Gen Nyanda has given Mr Vavi until Thursday to apologise, signs are that the matter will go to court for what could be a long, drawn-out battle.
Yesterday, Mr Dlamini told Business Day that neither Mr Vavi nor Cosatu had been informed of Gen Nyanda’s intentions to seek redress through the courts, despite a letter to that effect from Gen Nyanda’s lawyers.
“We know what game they are playing. We regard this threat of suing the general secretary of Cosatu as the disintegration of the meaning of politics in the alliance, a plan B because they are not getting their way in the ANC,” Mr Dlamini said.
Mr Vavi’s cause will not have been hurt by the outcome at the weekend of the disciplinary hearing against Transnet freight rail boss Siyabonga Gama. He lost an internal Transnet disciplinary hearing over charges involving tender irregularities after he awarded an R18m security contract to a company associated with Gen Nyanda.
The documentation used in the Transnet disciplinary hearing could be requested by Mr Vavi’s legal team. A court case could reveal the nature of some of the deals in which politicians and senior black business figures are involved.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 8 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006080507.html?viewall=1