Joint Statement of the South African Communist Party and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

24 March 2010

The South African Communist Party (SACP) and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the senior leadership held a fruitful and comradely bilateral engagement, yesterday 23 March 2010, in Newtown, Johannesburg.

The bilateral engagement forms part of a series of engagements that Numsa and SACP will be constantly having as part of soliciting a shared perspectives and understanding on the many challenges faced by the working class as a result of the deepening capitalist crisis and its impact on the workers livelihoods and the threats posed by monopoly industry to the development of our country. The joint SACP and Numsa bilateral, further, seek to drive a revolutionary agenda to restore the bulk of the wealth of our country to the people as a whole.

The SACP and Numsa agreed on the following key areas of work as part of consolidating the hegemony of the working class in all key sites of power, namely workplace, communities, the State and battle of ideas informed by the SACP’s Media Term Vision (MTV) and the COSATU 2015 Plan:

  1. Political Education: We will jointly work together as part of sharpening the political understanding of our respective members and the broader general public;
  2. Anti-Corruption: We will be jointly working together in fighting and exposing corruption wherever it manifest itself. This we will be doing jointly as part solidifying the ANC’s manifesto commitment of fighting corruption and the dangers its poses to our revolution and the country;
  3. Nationalization: We have agreed to work closely through mass mobilization for the re-nationalization of AccerlorMittal and SASOL. This political work would also focus on the need to nationalize the South African Reserve Bank so that a developmental agenda which is geared towards job creation is at the centre of the Reserve Bank mandate.
  4. International Work: The SACP and Numsa have agreed to do political and ideological work in respect of the challenges on the African continent, developments in Latin America, and the need for international solidarity with the people of Greece who are currently confronted by austerity fiscal measures which the European Union (EU) cannot resolve because of it neo-liberal outlook.

The bilateral further committed both structures to meet frequently as part of strengthening relations and developing common programmes so as to give practical meaning to our historical and objective struggle of building a Socialist South Africa.

Issued by SACP and NUMSA

Contact:

Malesela Maleka
SACP National Spokesperson – 082 226 1802 and

Castro Ngobese
Numsa National Spokesperson – 073 299 1595