JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s biggest union will not support the ruling ANC in elections next year, its general secretary said yesterday, in a blow to President Jacob Zuma whose political support with the working class is fast eroding.
The 330,000-member National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) also called on Zuma, who was booed at a memorial for anti-apartheid legend Nelson Mandela on December 10, to resign.
The loss of the union’s support is another sign that the broad labour alliance forged with the African National Congress (ANC) in the common struggle against apartheid is falling apart.
“NUMSA as an organisation will neither endorse nor support the ANC or any other political party in 2014,” General Secretary Irvin Jim told a news conference at the end of a meeting of its members.
NUMSA is the biggest block in the COSATU labour grouping, which is itself part of a formal three-way governing alliance with the ANC and South African Communist Party (SACP).
However, NUMSA has been increasingly at odds with all three over the last year, accusing them of neglecting workers in favour of “neo-liberal” pro-business policies.
Jim said that NUMSA officials or workers could campaign for the ANC but would have to do this “in their own time and using their own resources.” “It is clear that the working class cannot any longer see the ANC or the SACP as its class allies in any meaningful sense,” he said.
Reuters
