13 Facts About Zwelinzima Vavi

Zwelinzima Vavi was born on 20 December 1962 and is the General Secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions.

Zwelinzima Vavi is the former general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, and vice-chairperson of the Millennium Labour Council.

Zwelinzima Vavi was a child labourer, looking for work among neighbouring farms.

In 1987 Zwelinzima Vavi worked in a gold-mining territory of Klerksdorp and Orkney.

Zwelinzima Vavi was a uranium plant clerk at Vaal Reefs mine, and joined the National Union of Mineworkers as an organizer.

Zwelinzima Vavi was fired from AngloGold in 1987 following a massive miners' strike which crippled the Chamber of Mines.

Zwelinzima Vavi served as COSATU's deputy general secretary from 1993 to 1999.

Zwelinzima Vavi took centre stage in the four-month negotiation that preceded the 1997 Jobs Summit.

Zwelinzima Vavi served on the International Labour Organization's commission on globalisation.

Zwelinzima Vavi addressed the 27 June 2002 XIV International AIDS Conference, where he pushed mass education and prevention campaigns.

Zwelinzima Vavi has spoken out against the expulsion of NUMSA, the metalworkers union, which used to be the largest union in the COSATU federation.

Zwelinzima Vavi led two fact-finding missions, in October 2004 and February 2005, to assess conditions for a fair poll during the planned Zimbabwe parliamentary elections of 2005.

Zwelinzima Vavi took particular issue with the Public Investment Corporation's Telkom share purchase, involving former communications director-general Andile Ngcaba and the former head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama.