Taking away workers' rights to choose their own political affiliation was a tactic used by the apartheid government, former Cosatu boss Willie Madisha said on Saturday.

"We must never allow any workers organisations to oppress and take away what we believe in... Cosatu does that, and it is equated to what the apartheid government used to do," Madisha told delegates at the launch of a new trade federation in Pretoria.

"If we are told who to vote for... we are taken back to pre-1994," he said.

Madisha said the new union would put an end to workers being viewed and treated as "objects". He called on workers to hold their unions accountable.

He charged that the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union had used R20-million of money collected from the workers to pay South African Communist Party salaries and to hire venues for ANC rallies.

"Workers resources should be used to build and grow unions," he said.

Madisha also said workers interests were being put aside as leaders of trade unions such as Cosatu were furthering the interests of their political affiliates.

"Unions falling under Cosatu have become political parties whose primary objectives have become distorted.

"What's happening today in South Africa is that resources given to unions are used for something else and not to protect us workers," Madisha said.

The launch of the new union got off to a late start on Saturday as delegates from various provinces been bussed in were delayed on their way to the venue.

Co-ordinator Siphiwe Mabaso told Sapa earlier that he had received information that buses transporting delegates from all over the country were stopped by traffic officers and searched.

Delegates who had already gathered at the Pretoria show grounds on Saturday morning sang struggle songs while waiting for the launch to kick off.

Following Madisha's address on Saturday afternoon, around 300 delegates were preparing to break up to commissions in order to discuss amongst other things, the name of the new union federation.

Madisha told delegates he will not be available to stand for any position within the union but had merely helped co-ordinate the formation of the new movement.

"I have been a trade unionist for almost two decades... I don't want to be president."

"Among you are men and women who have the capacity to lead," he said.

The delegation is expected to emerge from the launch on Saturday with a resolution providing a direction in which it would move forward. As speakers were addressing delegates, more representatives from various provinces were arriving.

Another co-ordinator of the trade union movement, Moses Mayekiso, said the fledgling movement was struggling with resources, another reason why many of the delegates from various provinces failed to make it to the venue on time.

Workers represented were from various industries including the mining sector, the steel industry as well as municipal workers.

A labour expert, Terry Bell also addressed delegates on the importance of an independent trade union movement.

He earlier told Sapa that the ANC was opposed to Cosatu when the trade union movement first kicked off in 1985.

Once a trade union was tied to a political party, control was passed from the workers to the particular political party whose interests were generally broader than that of the workers, he said.

Earlier in his address, Madisha dismissed speculation that the trade union federation was aligned in any way to the Congress of the people.

Despite some delegates wearing Cope T-shirts, he said union members would be free to choose their own political home.

"You can be members of the ANC... members of the DA, of Cope, of IFP , or the ID... you are not going to be forced to vote for any particular party," he said.

Sapa