NUMSA message to Cde Jacob G Zuma on his 69th birthday!
12 April 2011
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) joins the people of South Africa and the liberation movement as a whole in wishing President Cde Jacob G Zuma well and good health on the occasion of his 69th birthday, today 12 April 2011.
Your birthday is taking place amidst popular struggles waged by the workers and the youth of Swaziland for democratic reforms and an end to King Mswati’s despotic and illegitimate regime. Thousands of South African workers are demonstrating in solidarity with the people of Swaziland.
This solidarity is not informed by biblical hymn’s or scripts, but informed by our long-standing resolutions as the ANC-led Alliance for democracy and the will of the people to prevail in Swaziland as solidified through the blood of uMkhonto weSizwe and PUDEMO combatants who perished so that both our countries, South Africa and Swaziland respectively could be free.
On behalf of our members, on this wonderful and special occasion of your birthday, we call on you to call King Mswati of Swaziland to unban all political parties, release unconditionally all political prisoners, and an immediate introduction of democratic reforms in Swaziland.
The workers of South Africa are opposed to the autocratic King Mswati regime and its continued usage of state apparatus to silence popular dissent and the right to vote. Your call to King Mswati to accept democratic reforms will have more weight given South Africa’s political standing in Africa and the world.
As NUMSA we are proud to be a trade union movement, an affiliate of your trusted ally COSATU, which has been in the trenches with your organisation, the ANC, in the bleakest hours of the struggle for a free, democratic and prosperous South Africa and the region.
We are jealously proud that you are a product of the trade union movement that indelibly shaped your political consciousness and activism in the struggle of the people of the oppressed.
The best birthday gift we can give you is our assurance that all our shopstewards and members across the length and breadth of our country are busy at work campaigning for a decisive victory of the ANC-led Alliance during the forthcoming May 18 local government elections.
Contact:
Castro Ngobese, National Spokesperson – 073 299 1595
Source
Numsa Press Release