The news that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) – part of COSATU – decided to break its ties with the tripartite alliance is therefore one of the most significant political happenings in the history of the modern South Africa. It means a major trade union is ready to create a socialist “United Front” – reportedly as early as 6 December this year.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said in a statement: “We decided to break with the alliance and we resolved to form a United Front and explore the possibility for socialism in South Africa.” This decision is in line with the union’s 2013 special congress resolutions in which it resolved not to support the ANC in the May elections.
NUMSA also gave the reasons for the crisis in COSATU: “It is important to understand the significance of the socialist orientation, traditions and socialist orientated revolutionary culture of Cosatu because the crisis in Cosatu today is in fact about whether or not Cosatu should continue to be a socialist trade union federation or it should simply become a yellow capitalist federation of the workers or a labour desk of the bourgeoisie.
“It is evidently clear that those within Cosatu that have been advocating the idea of a rupture in Cosatu are correct. There is an irreconcilable rupture among the leaders of Cosatu! In our view, this rupture in Cosatu is between forces of capitalism and forces of socialism, among the leaders of Cosatu. We make this correct statement confidently because we have seen how in the CEC some now argue why we should not be campaigning against e-tolling, why we must not honour and execute the Cosatu resolution and policy of nationalisation of the commanding heights of the South African economy, why we must support the ANC even as we all can see that neoliberalism is alive and well during the Zuma leadership, and ultimately today, some leaders are quite comfortable with GEAR which is now called the NDP.
“The rupture in Cosatu is between those who want to give capitalism a human face through some slow gradualist capitalist reforms and those who believe that we must, in a radical fashion, undo the continuation of capitalism and colonialism of a special type in South Africa and their evil effects which have placed more than half of the population in extreme poverty by demanding the radical and immediate implementation of the Freedom Charter.
“Inevitably, the rupture in Cosatu is between those who want to see a radical and thoroughgoing implementation of the Freedom Charter, thus a rejection of the GEAR that the NDP is, and those who are consciously or unconsciously defending South African capitalism and imperialism by defending the NDP and not openly supporting the implementation of the Freedom Charter, especially its nationalisation demands.”
If it all sounds a bit chaotic, it is. NUMSA is now about to be expelled from COSATU. But many believe this is a well-coordinated attempt by an ANC/SACP faction to weaken and isolate the power of NUMSA and its leadership who is inherently socialist.
This may or may not be true, but we say any split in SA’s government alliance is good. It will assist the efforts of opposition parties to create a stronger and more unified non-racial oppositioin that will eventually take the ANC out of its misery.
