Numsa 20th anniversary gala dinner; President Mbeki and all speak with candourMziwakhe Hlangani
Looking like it had been picked up to be dumped in the furnace, the mucking figure of a steelworker delivered a burning metallic element in Numsa’s logo which hung silently in the Emperor’s Palace, Kempton Park outside Johannesburg. The occasion was a gala dinner to celebrate Numsa’s 20-year history.
Fastened to the podium was a large banner with Numsa’s 2007 theme emblazoned across it: Confronting the class logic of monopoly capital. In front the State President Thabo Mbeki, flanked by a number of cabinet ministers, Numsa and Cosatu affiliates’ leaders and other political activists, cut the cake to mark Numsa’s 20th Anniversary.
While only a few know of Numsa’s early life, its first general secretary Moses Mayekiso, saved the day and showed that he will always be there to relate how Numsa rescued seven disintegrating smaller unions. Numsa emerged as a highly influential trade union during the 1990s. It was at the forefront of forging new union strategies during a decade of accelerated change in the country. President Mbeki and other dignitaries danced the whole night and spoke with remarkable candour about the future of trade unionism. Mbeki praised and emphasised the role played by Numsa before it was born after he (Mbeki) and his ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma colluded in exile in cutting out the work that had to be carried out by the leadership of the Numsa forerunners.
Cosatu president Willy Madisha said Numsa from its embryonic stages understood that for the country to be emancipated from its gender, political and racial backgrounds, it had to put its shoulders to the wheel in a fight for indivisible freedoms for all South Africans.
“Numsa fought for the achievement of indivisible rights by all and not just the worker rights. Numsa understood that worker rights are rights for the entire humanity,” he said.
Madisha added that Numsa had to go back and fight for what she had won 20 years ago and that is to improve the number of artisans attached to apprentices so that more workers can be trained as artisans. Numsa is one of the two greatest Cosatu affiliates and one of the largest invincible industrial unions on the continent and that is playing a critical role in unifying metalworkers’ unions in Africa. Ben Khoza, 1st vice president of Numsa had this to say: “Numsa leadership played a significant role in shaping the political discourse that led to the 1994 democratic breakthrough. We take pride in what we have done in the past and which we continue to do today. We are proud of our achievements in the sphere of collective bargaining. We set the pace in 1993 as the first union in Cosatu to conclude long-term agreements.”
The significance of this occasion reverberated throughout the country as Numsa’s coastal regions also held a series of celebratory rallies to mark the metalworkers renewed determination to advance the struggle of fundamental transformation in the workplace and in society at large.
What people said at Numsa’s Gauteng rally:
“Ihashe elimhlophe takes us back to our roots!”
David Mamogobo from Dynamic Instruments at Grootvlei Power Station.
“We like the principles of Numsa because they talk about improving and defending the interests of its members. That’s why today we are celebrating 20 years of our existence.” “The only people who can bring about real change at the workplace is not the local office or the head office. It is us, the leadership on the shopfloor who are the ones that must take the struggle forward and engage employers in complex issues.” “Every shop steward is an organiser. In the next 20 years we must work hard to ensure that we have one union one industry.
Patrick Kupa, Barat Carbide in SpringsNumsa member for 15 years.
The speeches were boring, but now it is number one!”
Stephina Mphahlele Arrow Altech
“I am so happy that Numsa is celebrating 20 years in the year that I retire and I too have 20 years in Numsa.”
Fezi Nkonyeni from Flather Bright Steel