NUMSA press statement on the Special Central Committee meeting of 11 and 12 July on the final preparations toward NUMSA’s 11th National Congress
13 July 2022
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) met for its Special Central Committee (SCC) meeting. The meeting was held in terms of section 9(2)(b) of the NUMSA constitution at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Ekurhuleni from 11 to 12 July 2022. Its key focus was to deal with the final logistics and preparations toward the NUMSA 11th National Congress.
The NUMSA President Andrew Chirwa made the opening address where he reflected on the state of the working class, making a call that the coming 11th National Congress must be a platform to reflect on the deepening crisis on worsening socio-economic conditions of the working class being dismally failed by neo-liberal policies and the permanent deepening crisis of capitalism as a system.
The President made a call to the SCC and all levels of the organization to take note that the coming 11th National Congress takes place against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis that is affecting the working class in a profound way. Workers and their families are struggling just to make ends meet, and to survive from day to day. At the same time, the country is subjected to persistent rolling blackouts, which are threatening the economy. NUMSA’s position has always been that loadshedding is deliberate.
The more blackouts we have, the more justification there is to privatize energy provision of the country which is bad for the working class as the greed of capitalism will capture our country’s energy for the maximization of profits. The country would have to forget about a competitive electricity tariff. This will lead to an even deeper crisis that will further worsen the levels of deindustrialization. The working class will continue to be victims of massive job losses and there will higher electricity tariff prices for the consumer affecting the working class and the poor.
Our 11th National Congress will take place in the midst of a war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been triggered by greedy imperialist countries, led by the Empire the United States of America within NATO.
As a result of this war, it being used by the greedy capitalist class, the prices of basic goods have sky-rocketed, which includes the cost of electricity, fuel and transportation. The working class is collapsing under this burden. The working class is completely under siege, especially in our country where for more than two decades, we have been victims of a deep structural crisis where the South African economy – minerals, energy and finance complex – has not been transformed. As such, the African majority continues to be victims of being alienated; they remain economically marginalized, landless and dispossessed, grinded by the vicious triple crisis of poverty, unemployment and inequality. At the center of this crisis, with our country having being faced in the completely wrong direction is the ANC’s failure to affirm into ownership and control of the economy the African majority who have been economically marginalized and dispossessed and who remain landless.
At the same time, our townships are a war zone and crime is escalating. This week alone at least 21 people died in taverns across the country where the working class drowns its sorrows. We send our deepest condolences to all those who have lost loved ones through these violent, senseless acts.
The conditions of the working class continue to worsen because of the failure of the capitalist ANC government to transform our society in their interest. In 2013 during the historic NUMSA Special National Congress, we noted the following:
“The global crisis of capitalism continues and offers a bleak future for any emerging economy that fails to build its own manufacturing industry. South Africa is not only failing to increase industrialization. The ANC government has presided over a dramatic decrease in the levels of industrialization in the country. This is not an accident; it does not come from incompetence or inefficiency on the part of the ANC leadership. It comes from the fact that the leadership of the ANC is protecting the interests of white monopoly capital and imperialism against the interests of the working class. The ANC leadership defends the ownership and control of the mines, banks and monopoly industries in the hands of white monopoly capital and imperialism.”
Our analysis of the situation remains accurate, nine years after that historic congress. The lives of the working class majority has worsened under the leadership of the ANC government which has done everything in its power to protect the value of white wealth. It has failed to transform the lives of the working class who are the majority. This is confirmed annually by Oxfam which confirms that the wealth of South Africa is held in the hands of an elite 1 per cent of the population, which is getting wealthier every year. But the majority continues to languish in grinding poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The ANC government is incapable of transforming the lives of the majority of people because Capitalism as a system thrives on inequality. Capitalism is clearly in a deep crisis and we are experiencing this suffering firsthand. This is the challenge that the coming 11th National congress of NUMSA would have to engage and emerge with what must be done in the form of a revolutionary programme which must rally the working class for a struggle out of the miseries of capitalism in pursuit of the struggle for socialism. This must be done in partnership with all NUMSA catalyzed formations, SAFTU, SRWP and the UF.
This is why the work which NUMSA is doing as an organization is so important. All of the battles we fight contribute to improving the lives of the working class. The SCC celebrated the signing of the wage agreement by workers at Eskom and the fact that NUMSA secured an above inflation wage increase of 7%, as well as R400 housing allowance and the restoration of all the conditions of service that were taken by Eskom unilaterally.
This was a significant achievement, especially because the removal of those conditions meant that workers lost as much as R9000 in their total package and this was having a dire impact on them. We thank the Eskom bargaining team and the leadership which supported them for securing this outcome. The SCC have called on employers in other sectors where the union is negotiating – such as the auto assemblers, the motor sector and the tyre sector – that it is about time that they move swiftly and make the necessary offers to settle this round of negotiations. Our members are running out of patience.
They need wage increases to cushion themselves under the current burden of the high and increasing cost of living with an inflation that is worsened by the sky-rocketing fuel prices. As such, they cannot afford transport costs and a basket of food.
Our members at Implats went on a strike at Newrak, Triple M and Reagetswe. We won the court case against Newrak to access the workplace at Implats by refusing NUMSA members their freedom of association and to grant them organizational rights. This is a battle we will continue to wage, both legally and organizationally. Victory is certain.
The SCC dealt with preparations for the National Congress and it dealt with all the details related to the logistics and the plans for the event. The SCC celebrated that one of our regions, Ekurhuleni which recently convened a successful Regional Congress, taking the number of regions to have completed their Regional Congresses to 8 of the 9. With the union having successfully taken more than 2/3s of the regions to their Regional Congresses, the union is now ready to proceed with its 11th National Congress, scheduled to take place from the 25th to the 30th of July, 2022.
The SCC reflected that in the build-up toward this coming 11th National Congress, the union has been under attack from various forces who could be working with some individuals being singled out and targeted, in particular its leadership for all sorts of allegations that its leadership is captured by business unionism.
This has been intensified in the social media by individuals who are on an open campaign to smear the leadership of NUMSA. These individuals have been tip-toeing in the shadows for this slanderous agenda, setting up Whatsapp groups such as the “NUMSA We Want”, being hard at work pursuing a factional campaign that calls to NUMSA members to replace the current leadership and through the propaganda to dictate who must and must not be elected.
What is extremely disturbing is that these individuals who have set themselves up on various social platforms to attack NUMSA leadership with an intension to liquidate are outsiders to NUMSA, but have they have become the hired guns to execute this vicious propaganda.
In the NUMSA delegation to the SAFTU 2nd National Congress, the union experienced a situation where a group of individuals behaved in a disruptive manner, which undermined NUMSA as an organization and its unity in the SAFTU National Congress. The SCC further noted the disturbing emergence of a faction in the organization calling itself “NUMSA two” which has been actively working to divide the union, and spread misinformation about NUMSA and its leadership ahead of the National Congress. The goal of this faction is clear. They want to impose their own leadership onto the union. If they fail, they intend to disrupt or collapse the National Congress.
Resolutions of the SCC:
1. The SCC spent time dealing with final preparations for the 11th National Congress which is taking place from the 25th to the 29th of July 2022 at ICC in the Western Cape. The CC has ratified the preparations, including the congress documents, the budget, the logistics and policy discussion documents. All this work has been fully approved, and NUMSA is ready for its 11th National Congress. The SCC resolved to officially open the nominations for national leadership today, 13 July 2022 and will close on the 22nd of July 2022, a process that will be handled by an independent body, EISA.
2. The relaunching of the regions has been concluded and the 2/3 requirement has been realized. Eight out of nine NUMSA regions successfully held regional congresses and elected new leadership. The most recent was Ekurhuleni region. Ekurhuleni successfully held a congress after the first one collapsed. We congratulate the newly elected leadership of Ekurhuleni and we wish them all the best. Unfortunately, Mpumalanga will not be able to attend the National Congress as it was unable to successfully relaunch the region prior to the 11th National Congress.
3. The SCC also dealt with the SAFTU National Congress and what took place. We reflected on the embarrassing and unfortunate situation that the organization found itself in, as a result of delinquent behavior of a faction within the union. Some members carried out acts of misconduct by completely disregarding and undermining the position of the union. The issues related to the faction calling itself “NUMSA Two” was also dealt with by the SCC.
There are a few individuals who decided to misbehave and undermine the organization by undermining the principle of Democratic Centralism. When the organization takes a decision through democratic processes, instead of subjecting themselves to the principle of Democratic Centralism, some people continue to drive a position of the minority by attempting to impose their individual will, thus undermining democracy.
At the SAFTU congress they were openly defying the leadership by contradicting the position of the union. They brought in tendencies which are foreign to the organization, and a level of ill-discipline we had not experienced in a long time. The SCC felt that those rogue elements must be dealt with and disciplinary action must be taken.
NUMSA is a voluntary organization and we have rules and principles which guide the behavior of members. Those who do not wish to submit to themselves to the majority decisions as a principle of the union will be dealt with accordingly, in terms of the NUMSA constitution. The SCC resolved to restore order and discipline in the organization.
4. The SCC felt that the conduct of the 2nd Deputy President, comrade Ruth Ntlokotse has undermined the organization and its unity. The 2nd Deputy President has defined herself outside the collective leadership of the NOBs. As such, the SCC took a decision to place the 2nd Deputy President under suspension, pending a fair disciplinary process of the organization. The organization is not in a position to discuss the details of the matter until as the matter is internally handled through NUMSA’s disciplinary processes.
Furthermore, a Special NEC decision which was taken in April 2022 called for an investigation into the conduct of the 2nd Deputy President. However, right after the meeting, propaganda surfaced on social media where false claims were made that she was being victimized by the NUMSA leadership and that she was placed on suspension, when in fact, she was not suspended. This was another form of false propaganda and unfortunately the 2nd Deputy President did not distance herself from this propaganda. The goal of those who drove this propaganda was to create the illusion that she is a victim who is being hounded by sexist men in the union.
The SCC further took a decision that those individuals who misbehaved and disrupted the SAFTU National Congress should not be allowed to attend the NUMSA National Congress and that the organization should trigger disciplinary processes for any individual found to have misconducted themselves.
We want to make it clear that the decisions we are communicating are decisions of the entire leadership collective of NUMSA. These resolutions were debated and adopted by the majority of NUMSA regions. We reject the narrative being peddled by some that these decisions are being taken by individuals and not the NUMSA constitutional structures. This is simply not true and undermines NUMSA as an organization.
The same rogue elements in the union have made wild allegations against NUMSA and its leadership. These include that NUMSA leadership is stealing money; that NUMSA leadership is part of the RET faction of the ANC; that NUMSA leadership does not represent the interests of its members; that the NUMSA GS is corrupt; that the NUMSA leadership is presiding over an undemocratic dictatorship.
They have even gone as far as claiming that NUMSA is returning to COSATU! All these outrageous and outlandish allegations are rejected with contempt. They have gone as far as creating a Facebook page to attack the leadership and peddle lies about the organization. They are using the platform to defend leaders who have been suspended for misconduct. It is unheard of in the history of the union, that those implicated in misconduct, launch a media campaign in order to gain sympathy for delinquent behavior.
This is all part of the smear campaign driven by this faction calling itself NUMSA Two. The goal is to undermine legitimate decisions arrived at through democratic structures of the union. They want to impose the will of the minority on the union, working with hostile external forces who want to capture the union. We reject all these foreign tendencies which are designed to implode NUMSA.
It is very painful for us to have to make these revelations public. We do not wish to air our dirty laundry in public. We have been focusing on the work we have to do to defend workers on the shop floor and this smear campaign is a distraction. But we have no choice. The attack on the working class is relentless and these forces are driven by a selfish, narrow agenda. They are power hungry and are willing to destroy the union, in order to fulfill this agenda. Contestation at the National Congress is normal and we welcome it.
But we will not allow rogue elements to implode the union for their own selfish agenda. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from fighting real battles on behalf of workers and their families. We will not sit back and allow NUMSA Two to destroy this movement which was started by Metalworkers at the height of the Apartheid struggle way back in 1987. We will defend NUMSA and defend its resolutions and its reputation.
We will not be distracted or deterred by those who seek to undermine the democratic mandate which members of NUMSA have given to this leadership. The National Congress will go ahead in two weeks time. We have a responsibility to report back to members and debate new resolutions which will enable us to prepare for the battles which we must fight on behalf of the working class.
Issued by Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, National Spokesperson, NUMSA, 13 July 2022
