Glenda Daniels A senior official of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has been dismissed for criticising the union’s handling of a strike amid claims by some of his colleagues that he was targeted for being too left wing. Dinga Sikwebu, who has been nominated for the post of general secretary, was dismissed for allegedly writing a document criticising the way the union leadership handled the Volkswagen strike this year in which more than 1E000 workers lost their jobs. This week he brought an urgent application for his reinstatement to the Labour Court, which has referred the matter to private arbitration.
Sikwebu, formerly head of education, research and publications, said outside court this week that behind the whole dismissal was the question of “a political witch-hunt, because of the upcoming congress – there is a perception among some in the union that my political views are not acceptable”.
At the union’s forthcoming congress in August, the post of general secretary will be decided. Some Numsa officials this week drafted a document in which they suggested that Sikwebu was ousted because of his left- wing political views, because of his fondness for debate and because of his criticism of the union’s intolerance during the Volkswagen strike. A total of 1E300 workers at the car company’s Uitenhage plant went on strike after the union dismissed 13 shop stewards for undisciplined behaviour. A union insider said that the dispute is part of a broader ideological battle raging within the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) second- largest union, Numsa, over the political relationship between labour and the government, the role of the tripartite alliance and the independence of the labour movement. Numsa’s vice-president, Vincent Mabuya- Khulu, said he could not comment on the dismissal because “internal processes were still pending”. There were various proposals on the table on how to resolve the matter, he said.
Sikwebu’s document about the union’s handling of the Volkswagen strike raised questions about why shop stewards were suspended and about how the union leadership handled the strike. Numsa is divided about whether Cosatu should maintain the alliance, according to union sources. Three of the union’s nine regions are calling for the severing of the alliance, with the majority calling for a change in the relationship of the alliance, so that the African National Congress no longer plays the leading part. This contentious issue will be the main ideological debate at Numsa’s national congress next month. It was for this reason that Sikwebu’s application for reinstatement was deemed urgent. Against the background of the ideological battle over the alliance, there have been calls by some Numsa members for Cosatu to stop its practice of providing resources for ANC election campaigns. Some regions feel that Cosatu should stop the policy of deploying people to Parliament, as this strategy has not yielded pro-labour policies, contrary to expectations. To many in the union, Sikwebu’s dismissal is linked to attempts to maintain the status quo.