Leaders are born not made
I would like to take this opportunity to air my undivided and sincere thanks to "intsimbi ayigobi" for showing employers that it is made of sterner stuff.
What Numsa did for me when I was dismissed from Scaw Metals on November 9, 2001 until my reinstatement on March 24 this year, is a million-dollar question to answer.
My sincere appeal to comrades who are faced with such circumstances, have faith in Numsa and raise your dissatisfaction structurally. I am confident our leadership will come to your rescue where you are not happy.
I'm sure that only the stars will stop Numsa from fighting for our aspirations. Yes, comrades we must know in the struggle there are casualties including those that are caught in the crossfire.
My dear comrades, that is the road we are trudging. I believe in giving praise where praise is due. To you comrades Thando Faku and the tireless, selfless and brave Booysen Mashego (Numsa national legal officers) I say job well done.
I regard you as footsoldiers who are prepared to die with their boots on. What you did is a lesson to others that you ought to take a deep stick and test the waters and that a fighter doesn't throw in the towel before entering the ring.
What you did reminds me of 'Tata uSisulu', that to argue facts doesn't need certain people to possess a string of degrees.
To you cde George Choshane, my regional secretary, supported by your office bearers, you showed the qualities of a political head in Ekurhuleni Region and a national figure in Numsa. Your moral support, encouraging me not to lose hope, made me realise your leadership skills.
I appeal to you that what you did for me, you do it to all of us in all different hardships we encounter. I feel the Ekurhuleni region is moving in the right direction. Let's eradicate the negativity about others' contribution in our struggle from our minds.
Political differences will always be there within our ranks but that mustn't divide us. To the secretariat, I say thank you for allowing a democratic process to take its course pertaining to my case. To all other comrades, don't theorise our slogan, of "An injury to one is an injury to all".
Your support means a lot to me and I believe that even in the future we will move side by side as true revolutionaries. As martyrs of our struggle, hoist that red flag as I believe that no-one will liberate us but ourselves.
To my comrades at Scaw Metals, I say be yourselves, don't ever allow certain individuals to mislead you. No-one can take away your bravery after being patient for a year and six months. As I usually say to you Mabomvane, ntsimbi ayigobi, working together and you supporting us as your shop stewards, we will achieve a lot even for the future generations.
Let's organise the unorganised and make each and every worker a Numsa member. There are comrades, I can't say a lot about them, their support has been evident even to a blind man.
To comrade Bongani 'Badela' Thembani, rest in peace, unfortunately the forces of darkness managed to steal your soul before we were re-united to advance the working class struggle.
Last but not least, my dear comrades, have faith in Numsa as there is no room for those betraying the working class struggle on a pretext that they are for you when they are not. Long live Numsa, the home for metalworkers!
Stanford Ndoba
(Ndoba is a shop steward at Scaw Metals. Read about his dismissal and his reinstatement in Numsa News No 2, 2003)
Dear Numsa News
Numsa News does not cover progress on equity in different regions and that of ideas exchanged in regions. If a company from Northern Province has been fine-tuned by Numsa, Numsa News must reveal that so as to take these companies on board in other regions. We also need stories from other countries and their unions.
Shop stewards at Guestro Wheels
Dear comrades
Thanks for your comments. We do try to give stories about successes with regard to employment equity. Some of these have been covered in Numsa Bulletin. But often we rely on you, the shop stewards, to tell us when you have scored a success. If we don't hear of those achievements, we can't cover them!
When we surveyed Numsa News readers in 2000, most of them told us that they didn't read the international section of Numsa News. This is why we moved it to the Numsa Bulletin.
If you look at the latest Numsa Bulletin there are stories there of workers and their trade unions in Swaziland, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. We also carried a long story about Zimbabwe and how the current crisis is affecting workers in that country in the first issue of Numsa News this year. See also the story about Swaziland in this issue.
Editor
Training problem
As a Numsa member I am worried about the life of South African people who are destitute because government together with Numsa are failing to produce something fruitfully for the people eg. jobs and education. So in this regard we need to change our ways of doing things.
As a Numsa member I want to direct my concerns to the union. The union is always talking about job security but nothing is happening. Our comrades keep on losing jobs each and every day because of lack of education and skills.
Our company does not give us a proper education and proper training due to the fact that education is very expensive. So my opinion Numsa must open its own institutions so that companies will bring their workers. In this sense workers will get the right education, they will be protected against losing their jobs now and then.
This will be an example of fighting poverty around our country. This will help the economy of our country and people can't lose their jobs – simple!
Mr JM
Worker at Crabtree, Wadeville
Skills development implementation
What is it that we need to do? Our people on the floor struggle to acquire better training and skills. Is it because of no funds available? The answer is no, employers are granted funds which they claim after training takes place.
Comrades let us fight for our rights and not compromise our future as well as our lives. Something must be done whilst there is still time to do so.
Should we still need workshops around such Acts, then the education department is there to assist. Potential skills are needed to enable us to be self-employed and to reduce unemployment.
With Numsa things are possible but only if we follow the right channels.
Time offs must be paid by the employers during the training and sufficient must be given to our members. ABET and HIV/Aids must not be separated from these programmes.
Source
Numsa News