The Sunday Independent reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has defended the dismal performance of its newly formed political outfit at the general elections last week.
Numsa resolved to form a socialist party in 2013 after abandoning the ANC-led alliance and set up the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) late last year.
The SRWP – led by Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim – secured only 24439 votes, which was 0.14% of the more than 17.5 million total votes cast in the national ballot.
Numsa national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said while Numsa gave birth to the SRWP, it was not a given that its membership would throw its weight behind it.
“Yes, Numsa took the decision that a political party must be formed but that political party still has to win the hearts and minds of Numsa members. That is how it is. You can’t assume that they will vote for the SWRP. The fact of the matter is that we still have to do the work of winning members of Numsa the same way we have to win all other members of the working class,” Hlubi-Majola said.
She is also acting provincial chairperson of the SRWP for Gauteng, where the party secured 5465 of the more than 4 million votes cast in the province.
She said it was not realistic to expect the membership of the outspoken union to vote for SRWP.
“They have always had the freedom to choose which political party best represents them. Within Numsa you have supporters of the DA, the ANC and the EFF. That is how it is as the union,” she said.
In 2017, Numsa helped form the SA Federation of Trade Unions which claimed to have more than 1 million members, who were also expected to vote for the SRWP.
Hlubi-Majola said the SRWP did not expect to secure significant voter support as it was new, adding that the decision to contest was mainly aimed at profiling the party and putting socialism on the map.
“The decision to contest was taken in December last year, so we were one of the very last political formations to actually begin the work of campaigning while at the same time we are a new political party and still building our structures around the provinces,” she said.
Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni described SRWP as what appeared to be a vanity project for Jim and his collective.
“Even the person who is the leader of the party was around number 17 on the list to the National Assembly. Ordinarily, the leader would be number one so that it gives the public confidence. “The leader (Jim) appears to be too married to being the secretary of Numsa and not necessarily leading the (political) party,” Mnguni said.
The original of the above report by Siviwe Feketha appeared on page 9 of The Sunday Independent of 12 May 2019
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