NUMSA RESPONSE TO DA & SOLIDAIRTY ON EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AMENDMENTS IN RELATION TO BLACK (African, Coloured & Indian) WORKERS
21 February 2011
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has observed with displeasure the alarmist and "swart gevaar" utterances by the racist Democratic Alliance (DA) and trade union SOLIDARITY in the weekend media reports of creating a state of anxiety on the alleged sidelining of coloured and Indian workers from affirmative action (see here and here).
The fact of the matter is that the current menu of Labour Law Amendments Bills, were released publicly for comment and submission so that all the Bills are the subject of broader discussion and input into the final product.
The second fact of the matter is that all labour laws amendments, including Employment Equity Amendments, are the subject of engagements and negotiations in NEDLAC where labour, particularly COSATU would most certainly ensure that all black workers are delivered from Apartheid labour market conditions including a national minority which is a provincial majority in the Western Cape.
The third fact of the matter is that the African National Congress (ANC) has always considered all workers and the working class in particular, as the most reliable ally in the battle to rid our society from colonial and racial subjugation. It is therefore opportunistic for white dominated organisations to create confusion in the ranks of the black working class for self centered interest.
President Zuma's reply to the opposition in respect of his State of the Nation Address (SoNA), he articulated the following words of wisdom, "No economy can grow as fast as it should, create jobs and be sustainable, if the majority of citizens are excluded. Last year's employment equity report indicated that 10 years after the introduction of the Employment Equity Act, white men continued to hold 63 percent of top management positions in the private sector. African women are at less than three percent and coloured and Indian women are at one percent each. We clearly need to work harder to close the gap."
This factual perspective from the President of the ruling ANC-led Alliance insinuate that we must ensure that 300 years of colonial oppression and exploitation of black (African, Coloured and Indian) workers must be nipped in the bud.
As NUMSA we are guided by what the ANC's Morogoro Conference 1969, Strategy and Tactics viewpoint:
"The African, although subjected to the most intense racial oppression and exploitation, is not the only oppressed national group in South Africa. The two million strong Coloured community and the three quarter million Indian suffer from varying forms of national humiliation, discrimination and oppression. They are part of the non-White base upon which rests White privilege. As such, they constitute an integral part of the social forces ranged against White supremacy. Despite deceptive and often meaningless concessions, they (the Coloured and Indian communities) share a common fate with their African brothers, and their own liberation is inextricably bound up with liberation of the African people".
NUMSA calls on all workers in all sectors the South African economy to unite against exploitation and to work with COSATU, SACP and the ANC to build a better future in the interest of the working class. The fear factor articulated by the DA and SOLIDARITY shall not make us lose faith in the wisdom of the national liberation movement to bring about improvement in the lives of black workers.
Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA National Spokesperson, February 21 2011
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