Military trade unions were a constitutional right, and one worth fighting the government for, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Friday.

"We will challenge them in court, legally, to protect the right of soldiers to associate," Vavi told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

Earlier this week, the issue of the military unions was warmly debated at Cosatu's national conference, which resolved to support soldiers who wanted to organise into trade unions.

President Jacob Zuma told delegates on Monday that the African National Congress (ANC) recognised that it was the role of military unions to make demands of employers.

However, in the same speech he said the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) had decided to "de-unionise" the military and instead use a commission to address soldiers' grievances.

Vavi said on Friday that soldiers' right to unionise had been already been established by the Constitutional Court.

"I don't know what they [the government] are going to do. As far as I know there's no court above the Constitutional Court," he said.

The right to freedom of association was enshrined in the
Constitution, and attempts to do away with unions in the military were reminiscent of apartheid.

"Honestly, they are reminding us of [Hendrik] Verwoerd," he said.

Vavi said the conference had resolved to continue to fight against labour brokers.

"The extent of labour brokering is a huge problem in slavery," said Vavi.

He said Cosatu would target companies hired to place employees with new employers.

He also admitted that little could be done about temporary and seasonal employment, particularly in the agricultural sector.

Vavi reiterated Cosatu's call for the nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank.

When a journalist suggested that this was impossible, he replied:

"We do not want to be prisoners to things that only look possible. We are a visionary leadership, nothing is impossible."

He dismissed suggestions he would take up a government position after he stepped down from his Cosatu position in 2012.

"There will be no better offer in government for me," he said.

"I will not make myself available. "

He would accept a position on the ANC NEC - which comes up for review in the same year - if it were offered, but only after a rest.

"I will need a serious break," he said.

Vavi suggested that the NEC had in recent years lacked people from civil society, as opposed to those who used it as a stepping stone into government positions.

"It will be very good to have people in the NEC of the ANC who have no ambitions for a government position," said Vavi.

At the ANC 2007 national conference in Polokwane, Vavi declined a nomination to the NEC.

At the time he said he had supported Zuma's election as ANC president as a matter of principle and not in exchange for a position, and that Cosatu had to maintain a separate identity.

At the Friday press briefing, Vavi again mentioned principle.

"I was pursuing a principle that it is possible to find people who only [want] to serve on the institution," he said.