SA union leader goes 'on leave'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/7029406.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The leader of South Africa's powerful trade union federation has stepped down for one month in a row over a missing $70,000 (£35,000) cash donation.

Congress of South African Trade Unions President Willie Madisha told the BBC he was leaving at his own request to spare Cosatu "any further trouble".

He says it will allow time for an independent investigation to be held.

He claims he passed the money to South African Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande, who denies receiving it.

The 500,000 rand donation was made by a businessman to the SACP in 2002.

Cosatu and SACP are political allies of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC); the relationship dates back to apartheid days, when the parties worked together to dismantle white minority rule.

The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the alliance is playing a crucial role in the country's politics as the ruling party prepares to elect a successor to President Thabo Mbeki.

Mr Madisha says he has witnesses who saw him collect the money and deliver it and they will give affidavits to the police.

The Cosatu leader is a member of the central committee of the SACP which publicly criticised him for implicating Mr Nzimande.

"It pains me to realise that our organisation did not receive the money," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

In August, the SACP chairman Gwede Mantashe said Mr Madisha had "sat on the information" for more than five years, failing to disclose he had received the money.

Zuma question

Mr Madisha has declined to link the row to Cosatu's recent controversial endorsement of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma to lead the ANC.

Correspondents say Mr Nzimande has been campaigning for Mr Zuma to be the next president, which Mr Madisha is said to oppose.

Jacob Zuma is a potential front-runner to succeed Thabo Mbeki

Mr Madisha stressed Cosatu's support for Mr Zuma was only a recommendation.

"Cosatu has not said that by hook or by crook Zuma must come in," he said.

The move was seen as a blow to Mr Mbeki, who wants to remain ANC leader after he steps down as president but who has fallen out of favour with both Cosatu and the SACP over his economic policies.

Mr Zuma was his vice-president, but was sacked in 2005 after Mr Zuma's financial adviser was convicted for fraud, a conviction recently upheld.

Still the ANC deputy leader, Mr Zuma faced a trial on corruption charges but the case collapsed when the prosecution admitted it was not ready to proceed.

He is now a leading candidate to become the ANC's next president when it chooses its leader in December.