Elections ’24: Numsa urges members to ditch ‘dangerous parties’
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Tuesday said while it will not dictate to its members which party they must vote for in the upcoming general election, it has identified several parties that they should not even consider.
Numsa's leadership held a media briefing in Boksburg on Tuesday afternoon, where general secretary Irvin Jim announced the union's stance following a special national executive committee meeting.
Jim accused the parties of making promises to the working class to secure their vote, only to attack them once in power.
“Numsa identifies the following political parties as the worst, which the working class must not vote for, and they are: Democratic Alliance, Action SA, Patriotic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Build One South Africa, Rise Mzansi, and the ACDP. Numsa also calls on the working class not to waste votes by voting for individual candidates.”
He insisted this was not a directive, as members have the democratic right to vote for whomever they please.
“We are not making that decision, and we are not choosing any political party. But the parties are likely to be the beneficiaries from this because has a very big influence… don’t undermine Numsa and its influence.”
Jim clarified that this was not the stance of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), of which it is an affiliate.
Following its split from the Congress of South African Trade Unions over Numsa’s unhappiness with the governing ANC, the union and Saftu launched the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) in 2018.
The SRWP contested the 2019 general elections but failed to make it to Parliament, garnering only 24,439 votes (0.14%).
The party will skip the 29 May polls, but Jim says while they remain dedicated to building SRWP, they must encourage workers to pick wisely among those parties that have made it onto the ballot.
Jim says beyond the elections, Numsa will hold bilateral meetings with like-minded political organisations. This includes the newly formed Labour Party, which is associated with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
“Beyond this election we will talk to all working-class political parties, who have working class constituencies, about what must be the agenda that must be pursued beyond these elections. Therefore, we will not exclude speaking with Amcu if indeed they are building a party whose mission and task is to ensure that we realise total emancipation of the working class and the poor.”
The Labour Party failed in its last-ditch attempt to request the Constitutional Court to postpone elections, citing inadequacies in the Electoral Commission’s processes that made it difficult to meet the requirements to make it onto the ballot.
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