Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe was expected to be named as the new deputy general secretary of the trade union federation on Thursday.

Voting for the position closed on Wednesday night and counting continued to the early hours of Thursday.

“Solly will get the post. He is the most senior here, it will be unfair to parachute juniors to head office and ignore him. The man had an impressive record as North West provincial secretary,” said a delegate from the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).

If elected, Phetoe would fill the post left vacant by Bheki Ntshalintshali, who was nominated unopposed for the position of the general secretary, left vacant after Zwelinzima Vavi was fired.

The positions of Sdumo Dlamini (president), Tyotyo James (first deputy president), Zingiswa Losi (second deputy president) and Freda Oosthuizen (treasurer) were uncontested.

Phetoe was vying for the deputy general secretary position against Oscar Phaka from the Democratic Nursing organisation of South Africa (Denosa).

The four-day congress ran smoothly despite a rocky start on Monday, when there were squabbles over credentials. The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) said the credentials could not be accepted as long as second deputy president Zingiswa Losi was in the congress as a national office bearer and the Liberated Metalworkers Union of South Africa (Limusa) as an affiliate. The matter went to a vote and Fawu was defeated.