In the 1980s, the black South African working class led the world. Now, in the age of capitalist offensive coupled with the betrayal of the working class by its own organizations, it seems that the black South African working class may be poised to take the leading role once again. Here we forward reports from the National Union of Metalworkers of  South Africa (NUMSA):

Numsa to mull Zuma resignation call

December 17 2013 at 03:32pm 
By Genevieve Quintal

THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Tuesday got down to the gritty business of deliberating its future in politics, with its acting president, Andrew Chirwa, setting the tone.

Mr Chirwa told delegates to the union’s special national congress in Boksburg that the alliance between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party had “evaporated long ago”…..

Adopted by NUMSA Special National Congress. Adopted unanimously by 1,050 delegates. 

Resolution on Challenges Facing the Alliance



1. Noting that;
1.1. The Alliance is dysfunctional, in crisis and paralysed. It is dominated by infighting, factionalism and fails to meet regularly.


2. Although there are protests everywhere and every day in the country, the Alliance is not an instrument in the hands of these struggling masses nor does it provide leadership to these struggles which is largely leaderless struggles. The reality is that there is a political vacuum and the working class is on its own.


   1.3. The Freedom Charter which we understood as the minimum platform of the Alliance has been completely abandoned in favour of rightwing and neo-liberal policies such as the National Development Plan (NDP).


Read more: NUMSA to mull Zuma resignation