Today is International Workers’ Day and as the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), we are celebrating this day against the backdrop of increasing poverty, inequality and unemployment of the masses of this country. More than two decades of ANC rule has created the most unequal society in the world, with extremely high levels of poverty and unemployment. We can characterize the last 29 years of the ANC government as “29 wasted years” because after they were given an overwhelming mandate by the working class in 1994 through the elections, they have wasted all this time entrenching the power of the capitalist elite, instead of dismantling the colonial and apartheid structure of the economy. We share the sentiment of Abahlali BaseMjondolo who have described the last two decades of ANC rule as fake Freedom because the only ones who are free are the rich who are getting richer and richer, whilst the working class is getting poorer and poorer. As NUMSA we stand in solidarity with Abahlali especially because they continue to be relentlessly attacked by this reactionary, backward Capitalist government. Their leaders have been targeted for assassinations because they refuse to compromise on the demand for land justice.
The ANC wasted 29 years pandering to the demands of the banks and international financial institutions which called for the privatization of State Owned Entities (SOE’s). The ANC’s obsession with pleasing white monopoly capital, has resulted in the destruction of SOE’s like Eskom and the deliberate neglect of Eskom’s coal fired power stations which has led to persistent loadshedding which is worsening job losses, and choking economic growth. We pay higher tariffs for electricity because the private sector is playing a greater role, through the Independent Power Producers, in the generation of electricity. And whilst the state is paying exorbitantly for primary energy, they are taking away increases and benefits from workers at Eskom, whose wages and benefits have cost Eskom not more than R33 billion since 2017/2017 until financial year 2021/2022, while Primary Energy costs (Coal, IPPs, Diesel Open Cycle Gas Turbines) ballooned from R83 Billion in 2016/2017 to R132 Billion in 2021/2022.
The deliberate crippling of Eskom by this government has led to persistent loadshedding which is costing the economy billions, and the premature closure or downsizing of companies which is resulting in increased joblessness through retrenchments. This is why NUMSA, Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (HAITU), UDM, SAFTU and other progressive organisations, took Eskom and the government to court earlier this year, in the hope that we can get certain critical sectors of the economy exempted from loadshedding. In Part A of our application which was heard in March, we demanded that the state should guarantee consistent and reliable supply of energy to hospitals, schools, and police stations. Part B of our application will be heard this month, and is about challenging the shenanigans of the state that undermine our sovereign right to decide on the energy mix to power our communities and our economy. The application will also expose the failure of the state and Eskom to deliver quality maintenance of power stations in order to realise a 75% energy availability factor to stop the rolling blackouts.
The energy crisis cannot be underestimated because it has a direct impact on the growth of the economy. It also may lead to companies moving production to other parts of the globe which means even more workers will lose their jobs. This is why NUMSA’s involvement is critical because we are not just defending our members at Eskom, we are defending the entire South African working class because the collapse of Eskom, will have dire consequences for all of us.
The state of the South African economy and the socio-economic conditions of the working class continues to be in shambles due to two key challenges we have had to contend with every day. One, is the deep global structural crisis of capitalism which began in 2008. The other, is the deep negative effects of the neo-liberal policies that have imposed structural adjustment programmes with the Reserve Banks, and the South African Reserve Bank dictating austerity measures.
In our case, the pursuit of inflation targeting of a band between 3 % and 6 % which has been consistently accompanied by high interest rates, is worsening conditions. What we urgently need is an expansionary budget with a stimulus package that will have a focus on investing in infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. White monopoly capital and the unregulated, untransformed banking are benefitting from government guarantees that are given to them without any procurement process. They continue to drive high interest rates with the Reserve Bank that has for decades pursued high interest rates as an economic weapon, which is undermining manufacturing and industrialisation.
The Reserve Bank announced a 50-basis point interest rate hike at the end of March 2023, which made the cost of borrowing higher than it has been for almost 14 years! This was the ninth consecutive rate hike since November 2021. We must obviously continue to campaign against and condemn this continuous hike of interest rates and we must continue to make the call for a state that must move away from austerity measures, and move towards an expansionary budget. Instead, the SARB is busy with increasing interest rates, when it should be releasing liquidity to the economy so that the state can drive manufacturing and industrialisation. That is why NUMSA’s demand continues to be the nationalization of the Reserve Bank.
The Reserve Bank, working with the National Treasury, have deepened the economic crisis in our country by, pursuing macro-economic policies that are promoting the concentration and centralisation of wealth in the hands of white monopoly capital. The ANC are slaves to WMC and this is why the drive to hike interest rates is beneficial to them. Our country has not just de-industrialised as a result, it is also facing very deep economic stagnation. Neo-liberalism has failed spectacularly globally, and in South Africa. Part of our crisis is that the ANC has run out of ideas, and they do not know how to think outside of the neo-liberal framework. So they keep administering the poison of neo-liberalism through policies like Growth Employment And Reconstruction (GEAR) and the National Development Plan (NDP), and the effect is that it is killing the economy.
The state has a duty to put together a stimulus package that must be invested in infrastructure to create the most needed jobs. NUMSA must continue to demand that the state must intervene in the economy and continue to demand that all jobs in the public service must be filled. This is the only way we can stimulate economic growth and also to industrialise and champion manufacturing as a country.
Despite the bleak outlook, the challenges we face are not insurmountable. Even against this negative backdrop, NUMSA keeps fighting for workers, and putting their interests first. We continue to secure above-inflation increases like we did last year for the Auto sector, (8.5% increase), Gautrain, (7% increase), and at Hulamin (7.25% increase). We recently won a constitutional court judgement limiting the use of scab labour during a strike. We also won an arbitration at CCMA where our shop steward at Gautrain, was reinstated on full pay for rejecting managements covid-19 imposed vaccine mandate. We recognise that the working class are the creators of wealth and it is our philosophy as a trade union to ensure that we fight for meaningful increases and benefits, because that is what workers and their families deserve, and also, to defend the hard won rights of workers.
The gains we have made as workers are not enough to transform our society permanently, and make-up for the suffering caused by Apartheid. If we want genuine freedom for the masses, we have to drive an agenda for the benefit of the working class. That includes, amongst others, the nationalization of land and minerals for the benefit of the majority.
In every situation in history where the working class has endured a crisis, it has been the unity of workers which has led to radical changes, just like the unity of the working class in this country, and all over the world, came together to end Apartheid. The working class will have to unite, and fight once more, for the work of the liberation movement to be completed. We are inspired by Karl Marx who said,
“Workers’ of the world unite! You have nothing to lose except your chains”.
INFO SUPPLIED BY NUMSA.
