******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ********************
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*****************************************************************
NY Times, Oct. 28 2014
South African Union Breaks From A.N.C. as Alliance Frays Further
By ALAN COWELL
LONDON — A simmering dispute within South Africa’s political
establishment moved closer to a showdown on Monday when the country’s
biggest labor union announced that it would break with the governing
African Nation Congress and form a new socialist political party.
The move by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, known as
Numsa, dealt a significant blow to the coalition of labor and political
forces that has dominated the country since the formal end of apartheid
in 1994. It threatened to speed the realignment of political forces in
South Africa and strengthen the government’s adversaries on the left.
But, as the country’s leaders and factions maneuvered on Monday, the
full impact of Numsa’s step remained unclear.
“We decided to break with the alliance, and we resolved to form a united
front and explore the possibility for socialism in South Africa,” Numsa
said in a statement, quoted in news reports, that gave no further details.
Though Numsa withheld support from the A.N.C. in the general election in
May, the party, led by President Jacob G. Zuma, won comfortably with 62
percent of the vote. Even so, it faces challenges, including charges of
corruption and mismanagement that have fed popular disillusionment and
provoked widespread complaints that the party has strayed from the
masses it says it represents.
The election also saw a strong showing by the much smaller Economic
Freedom Fighters, a party led by Julius Malema, a left-wing firebrand
who once led the A.N.C.’s youth wing.
Numsa has a claimed membership of some 340,000 workers in important
economic sectors like the auto industry. It has shifted to the left in
recent years, after disputes with the A.N.C. over labor and economic policy.
In a statement explaining its position, Numsa said it would not
voluntarily leave the labor federation, which remains allied with the
ruling party.
Last week, the federation postponed a vote on whether to expel the
metalworkers’ union from membership.
_________________________________________________________
Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm
Set your options at:
http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
