Gwede Mantashe refuses to return to Cosatu congress following booing incident

African National Congress (ANC) chair Gwede Mantashe said he would not be returning to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) congress after he staged a walk-out earlier on Tuesday.

Mantashe returned for day two of the conference hoping to deliver the ANC’s message of support after he was booed off stage during Monday’s proceedings.

But the elephant in the room wasn’t addressed when the programme kicked off on Tuesday morning.

Mantashe said he refused to sit in limbo while Cosatu’s central executive committee members and leaders from the alliance deliberated on his speech.

The trade union federation spent Monday afternoon trying to negotiate with delegates at the conference to allow Mantashe to return to the stage to deliver a message from the governing party.

While Mantashe looked set to speak after the South African Communist Party on Tuesday morning, the matter was swept under the carpet.

On his way out of the conference venue, Mantashe told members of the media he wouldn’t be returning.

Cosatu members continued to debate key labour policies, with its organisational and financial reports on the agenda on Tuesday afternoon.

-EWN

In other news – No baby number 2 for Faith Nketsi any time soon

South African reality TV star Faith Nketsi has opened up about her birthing experience and the trauma it left her with.

The reality star recently took to Twitter to share her experience with fans, saying she was in labour for 26 hours before she held her baby in her arms which made her think twice about baby number two. “26 hours in labour is enough to make me never ever want to go through that again. Maybe I’ll change my mind one day, who knows. Learn More