Metalworkers union Numsa leader Irvin Jim vowed yesterday to fight to the bitter end against expulsion from South Africa’s Cosatu union federation.

The union was expelled at a Cosatu central executive committee meeting which ended in the early hours of Saturday, at which Numsa faced five charges.

“We will challenge it, we will fight it and we will defeat it because we will stop at nothing to make sure the unity of workers cannot be compromised by Sdumo for his own political expediency,” said the Numsa general secretary.

His targeting of “Sdumo” was a reference to Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini, who has defended the federation’s historical attachment to a revolutionary alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party (SACP), since augmented by the national civics organisation (SANCO).

Mr Jim said that Numsa’s expulsion confirmed that those who wanted his union out were unwilling to listen to reason or to compromise.

Communications Workers Union general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala urged his members to defend not only Numsa but Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi as the next possible target. Mr Vavi tweeted: “Guillotine of +350 000 workers is a game changer & will have profound political and organisational implications — what is to be done?”

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said that the party had tried to advise the federation’s warring parties that a divided Cosatu would be a weaker one.

“That will not change because Numsa is expelled,” he said.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa called the development “a tragic event because we have done everything we thought we could. For us the unity of Cosatu is very important. We met with all the affiliates, including Numsa, and they committed to that.”

The SACP expressed full confidence in the union federation’s capacity to resolve internal changes.

“We further fully support and respect Cosatu’s upholding and defence of its founding organisational principles of one industry, one union,” it continued, adding that it may comment further after today’s political bureau meeting.

“This development is a bitter and heavy pill to swallow, not only for the workers in Cosatu but South African society at large,” said Sanco national spokesman Godfrey Nkosi.