Court battle looms as Cosatu public sector unions trade blows again

The rifts between Cosatu's public sector unions have deepened, with the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) taking the highly unusual step of dragging Cosatu and all of its affiliates to court over the federation's resolution to back the SA Communist Party (SACP) in elections. 

Internal litigation of this sort was last seen in 2013 and 2014 and was followed by a split in Cosatu and the departure of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which formed a rival federation. 

On the one end of the battle is the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), which sponsored the SACP resolution, and on the other is Nehawu and the Democratic Nurses Union of SA (Denosa), which sponsored a rival resolution. The Sadtu resolution called for a special congress in December to deliberate on Cosatu's stance on the election.