WATCH: It is cold very within the ANC, says Vavi
Former Cosatu General secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says the notion that it is cold outside the ANC is misplaced.
"It was, in fact, cold within the ANC," he said while addressing the Dispatch Dialogues at the Guild Theatre, East London, last night.
"Outside the ANC it's very warm because I can speak so freely," he said.
He also took a swipe at the current South African Communist Party leadership, saying the SACP died with Chris Hani in 1993.
"Anyone who thinks we have a communist party in South Africa is living in dreamland. What went wrong withe SACP? Patronage is what went wrong with the SACP," Vavi said.
The years between 2012 and 2016 will go down in the history of the federation movement as the most tragic, he said.
"The tragedy happened when Cosatu was preparing for their 30th anniversary. The wheels fell off within the trade union in 2010."
Vavi said the enemy of the unions and the ANC is something called social distance. "The leadership of unions does not know what it's like to wait eight hours in a hospital queue. They have medical aids."
He said things took a turn for the worst in 2012 after the Marikana massacre. Cosatu was a brilliant organisation but could not unite workers, he said.
The dialogues were hosted by Dispatch editor Sibusiso Ngalwa.