NUMSA GENERAL SECRETARY IRVIN JIM HAS LAID A FORMAL CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST POPCRU PROVINCIAL SECRETARY AND SACP PEC MEMBER STEVE PHIRI MATSEMELA

IRVIN JIM, the General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), today 27 November 2013, laid a formal criminal case against POPCRU's Gauteng Provincial Secretary and SACP Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) member Steve Phiri Matsemela.

Matsemela had publicly made a call for the killing of the Numsa General Secretary. The criminal case was opened at the Sandton Police Station (case number 988/11/2013). This matter is no longer in the hands of either our General Secretary Jim or NUMSA, but it is now in the hands of the police.

We hope that the investigation by the SAPS will unearth the underlying reasons or circumstances that led Matsemela to call for the killing of our General Secretary. We trust that the police will act on this matter speedily, even though we have reported a number of cases without any action from the police.

This call or threat for the killing of our General Secretary is a very serious and sensitive matter, and as a union we have applied extra-cautionary measures around the safety of our General Secretary.

Our country has a painful history of assassinations or killings of committed working class leaders, such as the late General Secretary of the SACP comrade Chris Hani. We can't afford a situation in a democratic dispensation for working class leaders to be threatened with death, purely for standing firm in advancing a working class agenda and interest.

Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, November 27 2013

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