Numsa faces imminent expulsion from Cosatu

Johannesburg - South Africa's biggest union faced expulsion on Thursday from a labour federation linked to the ruling African National Congress, the first major crack in an alliance that has held sway since apartheid ended in 1994.

Delegates from the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) were meeting in Johannesburg to cast ballots on whether or not to keep the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) in their ranks.

Numsa has been pressing a militant left-wing agenda after falling out with the ANC over economic and labour policy and did not support the party in general elections earlier this year.

"They are voting on whether Numsa will stay in Cosatu. We should know by this afternoon," Numsa spokesperson Castro Ngobese said.

A high placed Cosatu source told Reuters that the expectations were that Numsa, which claims around 340 000 members in key sectors such as car manufacturing, would be voted out of the federation.