NUMSA, the Working Class and Socialist Politics in South Africa

The South African election on the 7 May 2014 marked 20 years since the end of apartheid and the achievement of democracy. The result was hardly surprising, with the African National Congress (ANC) winning 62 per cent of the vote. But the idea of unchanging ANC hegemony is far from accurate. Only 35 per cent of those eligible to vote backed the ANC, a decline from 54 per cent in the first post-apartheid election in 1994. The Democratic Alliance (DA), a pro-business party based on old white-led parties and new sections of the black middle class, increased its vote from 17 per cent in 2009 to 22 per cent. But most startling of all, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, formed only eight months ago, won over a million votes (6.4 per cent) and gained 25 MPs. Three issues are of note and form the backdrop for this essay. First, the remarkable all-out strike by over 70,000 workers at the world’s three major platinum producers. Second, COSATU (the Confederation of South African Trade Unions) remains paralyzed by its own internal crisis, and stood apart from the platinum workers’ struggle as a result, as it has from the issues around Marikana and the massacre more generally. Thirdly, there is NUMSA, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, COSATU’s largest affiliate and the unofficial leader of the left bloc inside COSATU. The resolutions adopted at NUMSA’s Special Congress in December 2013 marked the most important rupture in South African politics since 1994. The union refused to endorse the ANC in the election. This essay explores this turbulent conjuncture. Firstly, we look at the development of the South African economy and the working class after 20 years of neoliberal ANC policy and the effect this has had on the structure and the organization of the working class. Secondly, we look at the move from the ‘Marikana moment’ to the ‘NUMSA moment’, and how NUM’s degeneration has highlighted the weakness of unions in defending their members. The future for union organizing in the mines could be one of considerable turmoil, with AMCU (with the likely support of NUMSA) and NUM vying to recruit and maintain membership. Thirdly, we look at some of the challenges facing the NUMSA project. Whilst we reject the argument that organized workers are a form of labour aristocracy, and we defend the potential of unions in the twenty-first century to act as a force capable of organizing workplace struggles and linking to communities, the challenges should not be underestimated. A myriad of divisions exist between workers: between the employed and unemployed, permanent workers and the precariously employed, the community (especially youth) and workers, and between workers and social movements. While much may be resolved in the coming months, the ‘NUMSA moment’ is both a product of the movement from below, and could prove to be a key turning point within it. If NUMSA continues to be bold, it may well succeed in building a movement to attract to it those who are increasingly disillusioned with the ANC and ready to embrace a credible alternative which aims to unite organized labour, township activists and the left. But simultaneously, NUMSA also carries the burden of left hopes and potential organization. Will it fail by seeking to do too much