Thousands of members of the NUMSA (South African Union of Metal Workers) attend a mass anti corruption march organized by various South African unions and political and civil societies in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 14, 2015. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The melee leading up to the interdicted National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) congress laid bare an ideological battle for the heart of the country’s largest trade union.
Warring factions have accused each other of aiding efforts by external forces to capture the union.
Numsa’s general secretary, Irvin Jim, has, for example, recently warned of a hostile takeover of the union organised by some NGOs and their networks, while another camp has said the general secretary’s office is already the domain of a private company and its chief executive. The latter group has called for Jim to resign.
Onlookers have warned that, if Numsa’s internal divisions are allowed to fester, the union’s centre may not hold, putting the fate of South Africa’s working class movement in jeopardy.
Hints of Numsa’s internal ideological battle are laid out in Jim’s report to the 11th national congress. The 158-page report was recently the source of enmity between Jim and Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu). With more than 300 000 members, Numsa is far and away the federation’s largest member.
In his report, Jim accuses Vavi of advancing propaganda designed by “those who tiptoe round in the dark working with the NGOs” to attack Numsa’s leaders. He further suggests that Vavi’s critique of Numsa’s turn to “business unionism” is the central plank of the Saftu general secretary’s “mischeivious attack”.
Business unionism, often attributed to the labour movement in the United States, upholds the principle that trade unions ought to be run like businesses.
Earlier in the report, Jim quotes Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong to suggest that tensions between Numsa and Saftu have emerged over differences about “who are our friends and who are our enemies as the working class”.
Numsa general secretary, Irvin Jim, claims there has been a media campaign aimed at bringing him down.
Friends and enemies
In his response, Vavi stated that the congress report trivialises an important debate happening in the workers’ movement about the role of business unionism in undermining worker control and internal democracy.
Vavi says the allegations made against him in the report constitute “a desperate attempt to justify the mobilisation against the Saftu general secretary and or a diversion away from whatever genuine criticism is made against Numsa and or Saftu unions”.
The alleged undermining of Numsa’s internal democracy was at the centre of recent court action to challenge a raft of suspensions executed in the lead up to the union’s congress, which was set to start on Monday.
The labour court interdicted the congress. But on Wednesday morning Numsa announced it would be going ahead with its congress after the union’s special central committee resolved to apply for leave to appeal the judgment.
Later that evening, Jim was re-elected general secretary unopposed. But Numsa’s application for leave to appeal the interdict was denied, opening the union’s leaders up to a contempt order.
Among those fighting their suspensions was Ruth Ntlokotse, who was tipped as Numsa’s president-in-waiting after she clinched the Saftu presidency at the federation’s congress in May.
Ntlokotse was placed under precautionary suspension — preventing her participating in the Numsa congress — after she broke rank with the union, which backed Mac Chavalala for the Saftu presidency.
Saftu’s four-day congress laid bare the federation’s internal divisions as Numsa fought to lift the suspensions of four national office bearers, including Chavalala. Their suspension came after they tried to suspend Vavi, who was ultimately re-elected.
On Wednesday, Puleng Phaka was elected to replace Ntlokotse as Numsa’s second deputy president. Andrew Chirwa was elected the union’s president. Earlier that day, members of Numsa’s Western Cape region walked out of the congress in protest against the union’s refusal to comply with the court order.
In the labour court, Ntlokotse and the suspended Numsa officials contended that their suspensions went against Numsa’s constitution and were “used as a tool to frustrate the democratic process”.
In a searing ruling, judge Graham Moshoana concluded: “The leadership tussle within worker organisations is becoming cancerous in this country and it certainly diverts what is supposed to be a worker association into … personal fiefdoms …. The leadership tussle oftentimes does not serve the best interests of an ordinary worker, who looks upon a worker association as a body that shall vindicate his or her rights without, I may add, fear, favour or compromise.”
Jim’s leadership has come under scrutiny before and after the court challenge, with those aligned to the suspended officials calling for his resignation.
he general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions. (Delwyn Verasamy, M&G)
Fiefdoms
Among their complaints is Jim’s alleged protection of the Numsa Investment Company (NIC) and its chief executive Khandani Msibi. The investment company is owned by the National Manufacturing Workers Investment Trust but has allegedly never paid it any dividends.
Instead, the suspended officials allege, the NIC has exercised patronage by giving benefits directly to Numsa individuals and structures.
In a statement after the judgment, the suspended officials claimed that Jim’s office is staffed by people paid by the NIC and not by the union. These “corrupted” staff members, the statement alleges, “are incapable because they have had an agenda. They have been determined to win a majority in the congress, by hook or by crook.”
Jim has publicly denied allegations that he has taken the side of Msibi against the will of Numsa workers. But evidence suggests that Jim has directly benefited through his association with Msibi.
Msibi, who sits on the board of a number of Numsa-owned companies, is also the chairperson of 3Sixty Life, a life insurance company owned by the workers investment trust. A 2020 investigation by Deloitte uncovered that 3Sixty Life had made a number of payments that benefitted Numsa leaders, including Jim.
The operating expenses in the company’s 2018 audited financial statements lists one expense as “Numsa support”. Expenses included R40 430 for Jim’s birthday party and R15 578 for a laptop for his daughter. Jim has said the birthday celebration was a surprise.
Numsa markets 3Sixty’s products to its members. Last December, 3Sixty was placed under curatorship, a decision Numsa is challenging.
In the fallout from the recent court challenge, Jim has accused a number of parties, including media outlets, of embarking on a smear campaign against him.
In a recent statement targeted at amaBhungane and journalist Micah Reddy, the Numsa general secretary contends that the campaign goes back to an open letter circulated in 2017. The letter, purportedly written by concerned Numsa members, shop stewards and staff, stated that the union “has been captured and must be saved and only the members of Numsa can save it”.
That letter, which Jim maintains contained a “racist rant, full of crude lies and wild defamation and slander”, makes allegations about the NIC and its part in advancing business unionism at Numsa.
Numsa supporters attend a mass meeting to get feedback on how the verification of their union membership is progressing.
Numsa’s chief executive
“Numsa is not different from any Cosatu union and in some cases it is worse than those unions in terms of business unionism. It is hard to see the difference between what is Numsa and what is the investment company. The NIC wants to take over the work of many departments in the union,” the letter reads.
A statement by a Western Cape branch of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) — the political party set up by Numsa in 2019 to contest the national elections that year — recently revived some of the concerns laid out in the 2017 letter, including Numsa’s alleged degeneration into business unionism.
The statement by the SRWP’s Shaun Magmoed branch is titled “Defend workers’ democracy in Numsa” and expresses support for the suspended union officials and suggests that Jim has taken to running the union as if he is its chief executive.
The SRWP is also a source of tension between Jim and Vavi, who did not endorse the party in 2019. Despite having the largest union behind it, the party only managed to eke out 24 439 votes.
The SRWP statement points to Jim’s attempt to collapse Saftu’s elections congress and Numsa’s intention, as laid out in the congress report, to extend the unions scope to other sectors. Such a move would inevitably step on the toes of Saftu’s other unions. “This is not the mindset of a revolutionary but of a CEO of a brand company wanting to gain ‘market share’,” the SRWP statement notes.
The statement also cites Jim’s affidavit opposing the 3Sixty curatorship, in which he refers to himself as Numsa’s chief executive. “The activities I render at Numsa are similar to those rendered by a chief executive officer or managing director of a company,” the affidavit reads.
Jim’s characterisation of himself in the affidavit is similar to how he was described by the writers of the 2017 open letter. “He has no understanding of worker control and operates like he is the CEO of Numsa.”
Worker control
But, in the court battle over Numsa’s elective congress, Jim insists that under his leadership Numsa continues to follow the principle of worker-led democratic governance by encouraging organisational discipline.
“Organisational discipline is one of the union’s most important founding principles. It means that no one person is bigger than the collective, that no one person is allowed to go against the will of the majority of members.”
He doubled down on this position in his announcement that the Numsa congress would go ahead, saying the delay caused by the court challenge “severely disrupted the planned programme of the union where we intended to afford, as a democratic worker controlled union, Numsa members the opportunity to discuss for the whole week, frankly and honestly all what they regard as strengths and weaknesses within Numsa …”
Ntlokotse said this week that the union’s decision-making bodies have become detached from the shop floor.
“It is a top down approach. Workers must come closer to their union and demand accountability … If they sit back, after mandating their regional leadership to raise issues, it means they will be giving Jim a union,” she said.
Ntlokotse also responded to allegations by Jim that she is part of a campaign to take over Numsa. “If you are passionate about doing certain things and making things happen, you are accused of taking over the union. How would I take over the union? How would Vavi take over the union?”
Earlier this week, Vavi said he would not comment on the calls for Jim to resign. When asked about his differences with Jim, the Saftu leader referred the Mail & Guardian to his response to the congress report.
“Workers in Numsa like Vavi. It is a fact. I don’t have issues with Vavi. I am working with Vavi,” Ntlokotse said.
“So hence we are being seen as trying to take over Numsa. How do you take over Numsa? Vavi is very critical about the role of investment companies. He is not speaking directly to Numsa, but all you need to do is look at how Samwu [South African Municipal Workers’ Union] collapsed … So we are arguing from that premise to say, ‘Comrades this is a union. Don’t allow investment companies to take over’.”
The alleged undermining of Numsa’s internal democracy was at the centre of recent court action to challenge a raft of suspensions executed in the lead up to the union’s congress, which was set to start on Monday.
Collapse
Allegations of widespread financial mismanagement spanning several years left the once prestigious Samwu in tatters. More than 176 shop stewards were expelled and 17 officials dismissed allegedly for raising questions about corruption and mismanagement of union funds.
In 2015, those kicked out of the union formed the Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, which is now affiliated to Saftu. Four years later, Samwu and a number of other unions stalked by allegations of financial mismanagement — including Numsa — faced being deregistered.
Numsa veteran Phutas Tseki said this week that the union faces a dire fate if its leadership fails to resolve its internal “challenges”. “I’ll call them challenges, for now, which could lead to divisions if they are not addressed. The issues that the union is faced with now are unprecedented,” he said.
“The current leadership must acknowledge that what they have committed is an error beyond the history of Numsa … Unions normally don’t have political differences, because as union’s they need to at all times focus on what unites for us — improving the conditions of their members.”
If Numsa, like other unions, were to collapse it would be a devastating blow to the working class, Tseki said. “There are many challenges to the trade union movement … There are serious challenges. Now Numsa, as this huge union, if it has these differences you can imagine what will happen to their power to engage employers,” he said.
“This year Numsa signed a 7% salary increase at Eskom. Now if they are divided, they won’t have that power to be united against employers. Employers in the private sector will use that to their advantage, because Numsa is organising in the private sector where employers aim to make profits regardless of employment conditions. So if they are divided, employers will celebrate.”
2 August 2022: A previous version of this article suggested that the Numsa congress was in defiance of the interdict and, therefore, invalid. However, the court is still to determine this. The labour court will hear arguments on this matter again on Friday, 5 August.
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