The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa's (Numsa) legal woes are mounting as its secretary-general Irvin Jim and president Andrew Chirwa face a possible 30 days in jail for contempt of court after pushing ahead with the union's interdicted national congress.

The motion comes from formerly suspended Numsa member and president of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) Ruth Ntlokotse. She took her suspension to the Labour Court last month ahead of the national congress. The court ordered that her and other members' suspension be lifted and it interdicted the conference.

Ntlokotse has applied to have the two union leaders arrested and found in contempt after they pressed on with the union's national congress last week, despite the interdict.

Numsa resolved to lift the suspensions and proceeded with the national congress after having a special central committee meeting. The union applied unsuccessfully for leave to appeal the interdict, with Labour Court Judge Graham Moshoana saying that would be purely academic as events had gone ahead despite the court's decision.

Numsa leadership who were elected at the interdicted congress said it would apply directly to Labour Appeals Court for relief as they believed Moshoana erred in his interpretation of the Numsa constitution.

In her notice of motion, Ntlokotse said she wanted the court to declare that Numsa, Jim, and Chirwa had been in contempt of court for "failure to comply with the order made" by the Labour Court on 23 July.

"The applicants intend applying to the above honourable court on 5 August 2022 at 10:00 or so soon thereafter for an order ... that all that was done as from 25 [to] 28 July 2022 under the guise of the 11th National Congress be declared to be null and void," the motion read.

The motion stated that Ntlokotse sought a warrant of arrest for Jim and Chirwa for a period of 30 days, and to have all the resolutions passed at the interdicted congress, including nominations and elections "invalid and of no force and effect".

Attempts to elicit comment from Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola were unsuccessful.

Before the interdicted congress, Ntlokotse was the second deputy president of Numsa. She now works as president of Numsa's umbrella federation, Saftu, alongside the federation's secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, who has of late been an open critic of Jim.

Jim told delegates at the Numsa congress last week that Saftu leadership had grown "arrogant" and worked to sabotage the union's work in service to its members and workers at large.

Numsa members told Fin24 during the congress that Ntlokotse was invited to the national congress after Numsa's special central committee resolved to lift her suspension in compliance with the Labour Court interdict of the weekend before.