South Africa: Letter of support to NUMSA

Comrades, our party [the Socialist Party of Azania, SOPA] has watched developments in the labour movement, particularly COSATU with keen interest over the past few years. We have consistently tried, though in a limited way, to bring our own contribution on matters that have bedevilled the working class and their organisations particularly in the new situation following what is widely considered to be ‘the historic Polokwane congress of the ANC’ which was supposed to have placed workers in the centre of all political developments in the country.

Despite setbacks and disappointments we have continued to support those unions and leaders who have consistently refused to mortgage the labour movement to the government and big business, those who despite threatened danger to their persons have continued to call for the independence of the labour movement from all those who seek to subordinate it to their interests and that of international capital and imperialism other than of those of the workers who set it up.

Without a doubt, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and its leaders have been in the forefront of that struggle. You have fought resolutely and fearlessly in defence of your independence. NUMSA has refused to be used as a rubber stamp to all the anti-worker policies of the government that is clearly pursuing policies that have put profits above people, especially workers.

While your stand has deliberately been misunderstood as pursuing the defence of an individual, the suspended general secretary of COSATU, Cde Zwelinzima Vavi, you have clearly demonstrated that the real issues at hand, at the very core of what was happening in the federation were more than just an individual but rather, the attack on the federation itself, also that your struggle was for the survival of the labour movement in the country including the very preservation and survival of COSATU itself.

NUMSA was not simply adventurous in reaching the decision of not supporting the ruling party that has betrayed and deserted workers at every turn but the union has painstakingly taken all the issues at hand and even the consideration of whether it was possible for the ruling party to turn for the better. Only after real soul searching did the union reach a position of no return in relation to their decades long relationship with the ruling party and the alliance partners who continue to blindly support it, NUMSA has decided to break.

We of the Socialist Party of Azania want to express our unreserved support for NUMSA. Our view is that NUMSA will best serve the workers and the people of our country when they are no longer in the hamstring of a government and a party which has shown complete disdain for the workers, the Black majority, the urban and rural poor. Under the circumstances therefore we avail ourselves to cooperate with NUMSA in all those struggles which will help advance the interests of workers and our people as a whole.

We unreservedly agree with NUMSA that their purpose is not to break COSATU but rather to rescue it from the interests that are alien to the defence of the workers and their gains. We believe as NUMSA that the time has indeed come for the building of a non-sectarian worker party that will best serve the interests of workers and the Black majority who still find themselves at the lowest wrung of the economic ladder. Over so many years we have also unashamedly championed that call. So NUMSA’s call find resonance with us. It is the only way through which we can start building the socialist project that NUMSA is committed to.

Also the call for a united front by NUMSA, is a revolutionary call that need to be heeded and supported and taken seriously as we all continue to conduct a revolutionary struggle.

Finally, we believe and support the call made by NUMSA to all other COSATU unions to break with the alliance of defeat and take their destiny into their own hands. The time is now, there can be no other better time. What will happens in the coming weeks will not be easy but is necessary, the tide cannot changed or reversed. Workers are reclaiming their organisations and also finding their own voice again. Our only responsibility is to support them.

Tiyani Lybon Mabasa
SOPA PRESIDENT