Zwelinzima Vavi: veteran trade unionist

Abstract

Zwelinzima Joseph Vavi is a defiant trade union veteran, former secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and vice-chair of the Millennium Labour Council. Vavi was born on a farm in Hanover in the Northern Cape in 1962. He is the son of a mineworker, and was his parents' tenth child. He was married to Nikiwe, with whom he has a son. They divorced after 17 years of marriage. He is now married to Noluthando Mathebe, and they have two children (twins). Vavi's passion for fighting against economic and social injustices stem from his experiences of growing up in a working class family. In an address given in 2010 to the Congress of the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers' Union as secretary general of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), Vavi stated: At a personal level I feel completely at home amongst you. I too was born in the farms of the Northern Cape in a little town called Hanover. I too do not know the date and the year I was born. Just like you, I was born at home and never saw the door to the hospital, clinic or school until much later in my life. I too became the victim of the child labour system. I too know the meaning of being paid in kind. I too witnessed the abuse of farm workers including my own parents and other family members. My family too was the victim of evictions and I know what it means to sleep on the roadside under the donkey cart in the coldest of the Northern Cape winters.