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Johannesburg - A small group of people gathered outside Cosatu House in Johannesburg on Monday morning to welcome its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi back to work after a court lifted his suspension.
About 10 people sat on the stairs outside the Congress of SA Trade Unions' headquarters in Johannesburg.
Vavi will return to his office eight months after Cosatu placed him on special leave following a central executive committee (CEC) meeting.
He said in an interview on SAfm on Monday morning that Cosatu leaders should use his return as an opportunity to reunite the trade union federation.
In the interview, he told SAfm he had heard in statements at the weekend by leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) that he would be suspended again this week."All I want to say... this suspension and the status quo decided by the [Congress of SA Trade Unions] congress, gives any union, including every leader, an opportunity to start afresh, to prioritise the interests of their members, to ensure Cosatu can be united again... to address unemployment... and inequalities," said Vavi.
"If congress wants to throw away all those issues... it is a choice that comrades would have to make...."
Vavi told the radio station it was time to move on and focus on union-related matters.
"I apologised a million times to every member of the federation," he said.
"I committed an error, I accepted responsibility."
Vavi said he would return to work after finishing the interview with SAfm, and is expected to arrive at the office after 09:00.
On Friday, the High Court in Johannesburg set aside Vavi's suspension.
Judge Phineas Mojapelo ruled that it was invalid and that the Cosatu constitution had been breached because the decision to suspend him and investigate his conduct was not put to the vote at the CEC meeting.
"A vote is prescribed as the manner in which decisions are to be taken ... therefore no valid decisions were taken," Mojapelo found.
Vavi was placed on special leave in August pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing about his affair with a junior employee.
In July, the employee accused him of rape. He said they had an affair. The woman later withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.
Following Vavi's suspension, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), an ally of his, lodged an application in the High Court in Johannesburg challenging the decision.
Vavi then lodged papers to be added as an applicant in Numsa's challenge.
Cosatu will hold a special CEC meeting on Tuesday to discuss the judgment and the way forward. Numsa's position in Cosatu is also expected to be on the agenda.
Last week, Numsa wrote to Cosatu demanding that it convene a special national congress, and threatened to take it to court if it did not.
