The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) joins the people of South Africa and the Revolutionary Alliance as led by the ANC in commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the passing away of the late SACP National Chairperson, former Chief of Staff of uMkhonto weSizwe, former leading Communist cadre who served both as a ANC NWC Member and in Cabinet as the Minister of Housing, Cde Joe Slovo.
 
Numsa remembers Cde Slovo as a paragon and as an organic Marxist intellectual par excellence, one of the most outstanding ever produced by our Revolutionary Alliance in the struggle for national liberation and socialism. Cde Slovo represents the unique historical tradition of our Revolutionary Alliance, of dual membership, and of plural holding of positions within our broad movement led by the ANC.
 
Cde Slovo was not only a darling and an admired leader amongst the rank and file, but was also a theoretician who provided strategic interventions during decisive moments. He is ranked amongst the leaders that played a key role during the CODESA negotiations and amongst those whose theoretical analyses are a living programme as encapsulated in the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) pursued by our Revolutionary Alliance.
 
His commitment and selfless character in fighting against both White Chauvinism and African Chauvinism within the ranks of our broad movement and society will propel the working class in ridding our the movement and society of this sickening tendency. This will be nipped in the bud!
 
His self deeds will be with us as we take forward the ANC-Alliance Elections Manifesto commitments and priorities; also as we consolidate working class power in demand of decent work and banning of labour brokers for sustainable livelihoods.
 
It will be Cde Slovo's kind of revolutionary morale and commitment that will drive us as we push for the radical implementation of the Freedom Charter.
 
Together with COSATU, we will accelerate and deepen our campaign of fighting against corruption and crass materialism within the state and private sector which threatens to erode our social fibre and the prospect of a better life for all. Cde Slovo's life and work was exemplary in advancing basic demands for our people without personal material gains and expectations.
 
We are commemorating and celebrating Cde Slovo's life in the midst of massive service delivery backlogs, deepening and racialised income inequalities and spatial under-development, rising cost of living and skyrocketing unemployment rate amongst the vast sections of the working class and the rural poor.
 
In memory of Joe Slovo - Banks must serve the poor!
 
In honour of the immense contribution and the role he played in the struggle, Numsa calls on government and the Ministry of Human Settlements to make sure that financial institutions, particularly Banks finance housing for low-income earners and protect them from brutal repossession of their houses in the event their loose their jobs or are retrenched.
 
Since the recession thousands of houses have been repossessed and displaced millions of workers into destitute and homeless.
 
This call is consistent with the aborted Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) strategy which was an over-arching development programme of the democratic state post the 1994 democratic - breakthrough. The RDP called for the:
 
 "End-user finance and credit must be made available for diverse tenure forms, community designs and housing construction methods. Commercial banks must be encouraged, through legislation and incentives, to make credit and other services available in low-income areas; `redlining' and other forms of discrimination by banks must be prohibited. Community-controlled financing vehicles must be established with both private sector and government support where necessary. Locally controlled Housing Associations or cooperatives must be supported, in part to take over properties in possession of banks due to foreclosure. Unemployment bond insurance packages and guarantee schemes with a demand-side orientation must be devised. Interest rates must be kept as low as possible".
 
In our ongoing class struggles waged at the point of production and within our communities towards a better life for all, we will be guided by our deep hatred of Capitalism which prioritizes the logic of the Capitalist market over the basic needs and demands of our people. This we will fight for with our feet's on the ground inspired by the programmatic theme of our vanguard Party - the SACP - which calls on the working class and the poor to fight against Capitalist greed and building an economy that is based on people's needs.