Vavi should have acted sooner after suspension

Johannesburg - Suspended Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's bid to set his suspension aside should be based on his employment contract and not the federation's constitution, the High Court in Johannesburg heard on Friday.

"[However] he's not relying on a contract of employment, but a direct contract between him and Cosatu," Kirsty McLean, for intervening unions, said.

She was arguing against Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA's (NUM's) submissions that Cosatu had breached its constitution when it decided to suspend Vavi.

Gauteng Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo had to stop McLean mid-way, asking why this argument was not in their heads of argument. He asked that she prepare her submissions for him in writing.

Earlier, her colleague Craig Watt-Pringle SC reiterated what Karel Tipp SC for Cosatu, had said about the matter being more suitable for the Labour Court and Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration.

"In general terms we associate ourselves with submissions made by Tipp," he said.

Acting sooner

Vavi should have acted soon after his suspension to have it lifted, the court heard.

Seven months have lapsed since Vavi was suspended.

"The suspension is an issue still and has been since August 15," said Tipp.

"Vavi could have referred [the suspension] to the CCMA on August 16."

In August last year, Cosatu said Vavi had been put on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to his affair with a junior employee.

In July, the employee had accused him of rape. He said they had an affair. The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.

Following Vavi's suspension, Numsa, an ally of his, lodged an application in the High Court in Johannesburg challenging Vavi's suspension.

Vavi then lodged papers to be added as an applicant in Numsa's challenge.

In these, he asks the court to grant him an interim order interdicting and restraining Cosatu from enforcing any decision taken at its central executive committee (CEC) meeting in August.

He wants final relief to review and set aside the decision to suspend him and institute disciplinary proceedings.