SOUTH Africa’s Communist Party (SACP) urged unity in the trade union movement today, while making clear that it blamed the leadership of metalworkers’ union Numsa for divisions.

Its political bureau voiced regret that the trade union confederation Cosatu central executive committee had been “left with no option but to take the drastic and unpleasant step of expelling Numsa from its ranks.”

The SACP accused Numsa of courting expulsion in order to posture as victims of a “thumb-suck witch-hunt.”

Specifically, the party said that Numsa had “brazenly pursued its recalcitrant defiance of the founding principle of the federation — namely one industry, one union.”

Its attempts to “poach members from other Cosatu affiliates has resulted in worker shopfloor divisions, factionalism and even homes burnt and cars destroyed.”

The SACP accused the Numsa leadership of “throwing reckless insults in all directions” over many months, which had brought about “a case of self-expulsion” rather than a manipulated witch-hunt.

The party reiterated its commitment to working-class unity, “including a respect for a diversity of views among the organised working class and the popular masses.”

It insisted that tactical differences must not be elevated while monopoly capital strengthens its exploitative grip on South Africa.
“We call on the great majority of Numsa rank-and-file members, quite a number of whom are our own SACP members, not to follow the divisive path of their leadership,” the SACP said.

“A reinvigorated and militant Cosatu that refuses to be a simple conveyor belt either for government or for the personal agendas of ambitious business unionists is absolutely essential in this regard.”