Linda Ensor
9 October 2008
Johannesburg — WILLIE Madisha has been one of the many casualties of the back-stabbing battle between factions of the tripartite alliance over the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC).
A cloud still hangs over him after his sacking this year as president by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu). He was also expelled from the South African Communist Party (SACP) of which he was a central committee member.
Once SA's most powerful trade unionist, these removals have left Madisha in the political wilderness from which the launch of a new political party could rescue him. He was alleged to have been involved in the disappearance of a R500000 donation to the SACP, a charge he has strongly denied.
Madisha has been described as a close political ally of former president Thabo Mbeki and lost favour with his trade union colleagues by backing Mbeki rather than ANC president Jacob Zuma.
A stepping stone for his rise to become Cosatu president in 1999 was his involvement as a teacher in Sadtu, of which he became president in 1996.
Madisha grew up in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, completing his tertiary education at the Transvaal Teachers' Training College and his BA degree through Unisa. He began teaching in 1983 and soon afterwards joined the United Democratic Front.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
