Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma expressed concern on Thursday at tensions between ANC alliance partner Cosatu and its biggest affiliate Numsa.

“We are concerned about the tensions in the federation that is our alliance partner,” Zuma told parliamentary Press Gallery Association members at a lunch meeting at Tuynhuys.

However, Zuma said he was also confident the Cosatu would be able to resolve the dispute with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

Numsa is involved in a high court battle to have suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi re-instated.

The case was indefinitely postponed on Tuesday.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim has also threatened not to campaign for the ANC ahead of next year’s elections should the National Development Plan be included in the party’s election manifesto.

Zuma said the ANC had “engaged” Numsa on its comments.

“In so far as the utterances about perhaps not going with the ANC in the elections, I’m sure that people as individuals within any organisation will have their views… We have not engaged those matters from the colleagues who are saying so…,” Zuma said.

“I’m sure when we discuss it again, I don’t think we’ll fail to come to some kind of understanding.”

Zuma said tensions within any organisation were normal.

“There are issues that have arisen, and we believe those issues would be handled and concluded so that the federation is able to move forward,” he said.

“It will be something almost next to impossible that you can have an organisation where at times there are no tensions.”

– SAPA