SUSPENDED teachers’ union president Thobile Ntola’s allies have asked the ANC to intervene and mend the deeply divided organisation.
The group’s leader, Andile Mtirara, made the call yesterday following the intervention of ANC big guns, including deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and Jessie Duarte, in the Cosatu crisis two weeks ago.
That intervention led to the shelving of a central executive committee (CEC) discussion that might have resulted in the suspension of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi a few days after the high court ruled he be re-instated. Mtirara said Ntola had already held “informal discussions” with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe for the party to intervene in the impasse.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) divisions reached a climax last year when the CEC suspended Ntola. He was blamed for allowing the then suspended Vavi to address a Sadtu meeting in Port Elizabeth last August.
Eight more charges, including corruption, were added to his charge sheet, and Ntola appeared before the Sadtu disciplinary committee yesterday for the first time. This followed a postponement last month, which Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said was at Ntola’s request.
Mantashe could not be reached for comment yesterday, to confirm whether the matter was ever discussed.
Mtirara said they would like the ANC to take “total control of the running of the disciplinary hearings (DC), including , but also of all those leaders implicated in corrupt practices”.
The Daily Dispatch understands a group of pro-Maluleke union members picketed outside the venue of the DC hearing with placards that read “no one is above the Sadtu constitution”, referring to Ntola. But Mtirara was adamant that “for now, the hearing against the president remains a kangaroo court, aimed at pushing him out of Sadtu”.
“There cannot be a united Cosatu if the affiliates are divided and this hearing is conducted by a faction that wants our president out on the streets.”
Sadtu is one of Cosatu’s largest affiliates, with more than 240000 paid-up members across the country.
The pro-Ntola faction plans a march of thousands to Sadtu’s headquarters on April 25 to demand Ntola’s re-instatement, according to an April 10 letter the group wrote to Maluleke. In it, Mtirara, Florah Mashita and Jihad Seonya wrote: “Kindly be advised that about 50000 Sadtu members across the country will be submitting a memorandum of demands to Sadtu national office for attention ... Sadtu NEC is therefore requested to receive this memo and respond to its contents.”
Maluleke referred all media enquiries to his deputy, Nkosana Dolopi.
Dolopi couldn’t comment as he had not seen the memo.
Mtirara said the march was just the first step in mobilising disgruntled union members. “The NEC meeting that suspended him had no such item on the agenda. That meeting was supposed to plan for a Cosatu CEC. Instead it was turned into something else,” he added.
Mtirara said if the CEC refuses to heed to the call for Ntola’s exoneration the next step was stopping their fees.
Sadtu turns to ANC over Ntola split
The group’s leader, Andile Mtirara, made the call yesterday following the intervention of ANC big guns, including deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and Jessie Duarte, in the Cosatu crisis two weeks ago.
That intervention led to the shelving of a central executive committee (CEC) discussion that might have resulted in the suspension of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi a few days after the high court ruled he be re-instated. Mtirara said Ntola had already held “informal discussions” with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe for the party to intervene in the impasse.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) divisions reached a climax last year when the CEC suspended Ntola. He was blamed for allowing the then suspended Vavi to address a Sadtu meeting in Port Elizabeth last August.
Eight more charges, including corruption, were added to his charge sheet, and Ntola appeared before the Sadtu disciplinary committee yesterday for the first time. This followed a postponement last month, which Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said was at Ntola’s request.
Mantashe could not be reached for comment yesterday, to confirm whether the matter was ever discussed.
Mtirara said they would like the ANC to take “total control of the running of the disciplinary hearings (DC), including , but also of all those leaders implicated in corrupt practices”.
The Daily Dispatch understands a group of pro-Maluleke union members picketed outside the venue of the DC hearing with placards that read “no one is above the Sadtu constitution”, referring to Ntola. But Mtirara was adamant that “for now, the hearing against the president remains a kangaroo court, aimed at pushing him out of Sadtu”.
“There cannot be a united Cosatu if the affiliates are divided and this hearing is conducted by a faction that wants our president out on the streets.”
Sadtu is one of Cosatu’s largest affiliates, with more than 240000 paid-up members across the country.
The pro-Ntola faction plans a march of thousands to Sadtu’s headquarters on April 25 to demand Ntola’s re-instatement, according to an April 10 letter the group wrote to Maluleke. In it, Mtirara, Florah Mashita and Jihad Seonya wrote: “Kindly be advised that about 50000 Sadtu members across the country will be submitting a memorandum of demands to Sadtu national office for attention ... Sadtu NEC is therefore requested to receive this memo and respond to its contents.”
Maluleke referred all media enquiries to his deputy, Nkosana Dolopi.
Dolopi couldn’t comment as he had not seen the memo.
Mtirara said the march was just the first step in mobilising disgruntled union members. “The NEC meeting that suspended him had no such item on the agenda. That meeting was supposed to plan for a Cosatu CEC. Instead it was turned into something else,” he added.
Mtirara said if the CEC refuses to heed to the call for Ntola’s exoneration the next step was stopping their fees.
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