Cosatu on Thursday sought to dispel perceptions that secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi's comments on T-shirts supported those made by ANC dissident Terror Lekota.

Vavi's statement on Tuesday had been "misreported", read a joint statement by the ANC and Cosatu.

It asserted this was done to give the impression that Vavi was siding with Lekota's attack on ANC members wearing "100 percent Zuluboy" T-shirts in support of party president Jacob Zuma.

While Lekota's comment was an attack on the ANC, Vavi was arguing against the "cult of personality", read the statement.

Lekota was "selectively and hypocritically" attacking such T-shirts. He never attacked the use of other ANC leaders' image on T-shirts. Lekota's image even appeared on one when he was campaigning to retain his position as Free State premier.

Vavi, on the other hand, was "making a serious comment about the disturbing new traditions that have emerged over the 14 years of democracy", the statement read.

This included the "cult of personality", driven by posters and T-shirts promoting individual leaders, rather the movement or its policies.

"Cosatu is trying to focus the debates within the alliance and broader society onto the major political challenges we face and away from personalised and factional disputes."

On Tuesday, Vavi was quoted as saying: "There is danger to these T-shirts, to these posters... the negative side is that it implies in the mind of an individual that he is equal to or bigger than the organisation."

Sapa