NUMSA REJECTS THE SLANDEROUS NEW AGE ARTICLE “JIM FACES REVOLT”.
01 June 2015
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) strongly condemns the spurious and slanderous article “Jim faces revolt”, in today’s [Monday 01 June 2015] edition of The New Age.
The article cannot only be described as a piece of fiction and factional work, but seeks to injure the person and stature of Numsa’s General Secretary cde Irvin Jim, based on a false claim that he is a “dictator” that uses other unions “for his own purposes”. Numsa is not surprised by this latest tirade, since The New Age is captured by forces opposed to the current Numsa leadership and our political posture, emanating from our groundbreaking Special National Congress (SNC) held in 2013.
The New Age alleges that “divisions have crept in among pro-Numsa trade unions after some of the unions attended last week’s Cosatu central executive committee meeting, where the agenda for the much vaunted special national congress was drawn up”. This is a fabricated lie in order to send a false message that Numsa no longer enjoys support amongst Cosatu’s affiliates. We still enjoy massive support amongst affiliates that have stood with us since our expulsion on November 06, 2014. This support has been cemented and crystalized with our recently held successful May Day marches in Durban; Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Secondly, the agenda of the special national congress does not rest with the Central Executive Committee (CEC), but is determined by the Affiliates that have petitioned the President to convene the special congress, as per the constitutional provisions of the Cosatu constitution.