National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) president Mtutuzeli Tom has reproached members who, he said, use the media to discredit the union.
”It is our revolutionary duty to defend and protect the integrity of the union from reckless and careless negative media publicity,” he told Numsa’s congress in Midrand.
”We all must know that our media in South Africa is yet to fully transform itself from its old anti-liberation, anti-working-class roots.”
More than 700 delegates and 200 local and foreign guests attended the congress, which is held every four years.
Tom reprimanded Numsa members who, he said, give the media information that could be used to discredit the union and undermine its decisions.
These media include newspapers that had in the past been ”an instrument used by the white minority regime to destroy the trade-union movement in our country”.
Such papers used to depict labour unions as communists or terrorists, Tom said.
Turning to government policies, he expressed doubts about the growth, employment and redistribution strategy (Gear), unveiled in mid-1996.
Gear, he said, was a shift towards conservative thinking on macro-economics, as opposed to the expansionary framework envisaged by the reconstruction and development programme.
A group of about 100 mineworkers from Sebokeng demonstrated at the congress, carrying cardboard coffins and chanting. The workers were part of a group of about 500 retrenched by the South African Manganese and Chrome Corporation (Samancor) in 2001.
One of the group, Bafana Makhanya (48), said the coffins represented workers who had died of manganese poisoning. They had come to ask Numsa to negotiate with Samancor for financial assistance.
One of the guests at Monday’s congress was Terry Butterworth, president of Community, the British metalworker’s union.
Butterworth said Numsa is doing ”an excellent job” under the pressures it experiences, which include the merging of steel companies.
”It’s a pleasure to … meet so many people committed to better the conditions of those they represent and take the unions forward.”
Nolady Booi, a petrol-pump attendant and shop steward from King William’s Town, found Tom’s speech ”too nice”.
”For those that are suffering in their workplaces, I think he’s there for them.”
She had joined Numsa ”to progress my standard of work and to protect workers when they deal with employers”.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma was due to speak on Monday afternoon. The congress ends on September 23. — Sapa