The leadership of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa wants mines nationalised and cooperatives established as a way of dealing with poverty, it said on Sunday.
After a meeting of its national executive committee (NEC) on Sunday, Numsa said that nationalising the country’s mineral wealth was the only way to eradicate poverty.
“The NEC welcomed and appreciated a report of a study tour that was undertaken in January 2011 to study the experiences of nationalisation of state-owned mining companies in Bolivia and Chile,” Numsa said.
“It is evident that if we are to eradicate poverty, the state must take charge of our mineral wealth. The new growth path must deal with nationalisation and the establishment of cooperatives must be at the centre of a new redistributive economic framework,” it said.
The union called on the government to disclose whether any previous administration had entered into any agreement with other countries wherein South Africa undertook not to nationalise strategic entities.
‘Ticking time bomb’
“The Numsa NEC took a view that the levels of unemployment, poverty and inequalities have reached alarming levels and the issue of joblessness constitutes a national crisis and indeed a ticking time bomb,” the union said.
It expected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to, in his budget, lay solid groundwork for further cutting of interest rates, bring back capital controls and taking “whatever measures” necessary to weaken the rand.
“The economy in key sectors could collapse if these matters are not addressed,” the union said.
“We are more convinced that the current influx of imports are continuing to haemorrhage jobs and continue to worsen the deindustrialisation that has taken place in the last 16 years in our country.”
Numsa said the NEC remained convinced that the South African Communist Party was the only hope for the future socialist Republic of South Africa as it “would put the working class at the centre of economic emancipation”.
“Cosatu and the SACP leadership should hasten to iron out the differences on tactics and strategy that have emerged amongst these socialist formations in the alliance,” Numsa said. – Sapa