NUMSA APPLAUDS PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) applauds President Jacob Zuma's revolutionary gesture of writing-off R1, 1billion debt owed by the Cuban government for the export of diesel engines and pesticides.

This gesture should serve a basis of renewing our fraternal relations with Cuba, which we were borne out of concrete struggle for freedom and the liberation of the oppressed people of our country and the Southern African region. The Cuban people under the leadership of Commandate Fidel Castro Ruz were with us in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale where the apartheid SADF and RENAMO forces were defeated. The Cuban people were with us in the military camps in Zambia, Tanzania and other parts of the world.

The Cuban people fought and died in foreign lands together with our uMkhonto weSizwe combatants. The people of Cuba are still with even today servicing our people in deep rural hospitals of our country, and above all children of our country from poor and working class families are studying for FREE in Cuba. The Cuban people deserve better and more!

As Numsa, we call on the South African government and President Zuma, given our international standing and strategic position in the United Nations (UN) Security Council to call for the uplifting of the embargo and economic sanctions imposed by the United States against the Cuba and her people. The Cuban people and its revolution still remains a beacon of hope to the poor and suffering people of our country and the world.

Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA National Spokesperson, December 8 2010

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