ANC has abandoned the democratic revolution: Numsa

Numsa president Andrew Chirwa
Numsa president Andrew Chirwa
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) will seek to ensure SA returns to the socioeconomic trajectory previously followed by the African National Congress (ANC)‚ Numsa president Andrew Chirwa said today.

In an opening address at a two-day conference organised by Numsa‚ mainly to explore the possibility of forming a workers’ political party‚ Mr Chirwa accused the ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA) of competing with each other for the title of most conservative party in terms of ideological outlook.

Numsa has been on a collision course with the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)‚ since it resolved at a special national congress in December 2013 to form both a United Front and a Movement for Socialism.

The union‚ which is regarded as the biggest in the country‚ was expelled from Cosatu when the former refused to support the ANC in elections last year.

Numsa has criticised the party for not doing enough to improve the conditions of workers in a country where one in four people are unemployed.

Numsa has already spearheaded the formation of a United Front to co-ordinate various community and shop-floor campaigns‚ as well a “Movement for Socialism” — a political vehicle capable of pursuing polices and campaigns that will lead to the establishment of a socialist country.

Mr Chirwa said the ANC had “abandoned the National Democratic Revolution“‚ which required “asserting the revolutionary and working class leadership of this revolution … and building a Marxist-Leninist vanguard working party.”

On Thursday morning‚ the majority of Numsa’s central committee were present with some regions yet to arrive‚ while the union had sent an open invitation to all leftist organisations to attend the event.

The conference aims to learn from the experience of revolutionary socialist movements in other countries‚ with input expected from organisations including the Democratic Left‚ the Pan Africanist Congress‚ International Socialist Movement‚ Workers and Socialist Party‚ and the Economic Freedom Fighters‚ among others.

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