The Mpumalanga National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) condemns the public statement issued by SA Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) in Mpumalanga questioning the political wisdom and clarity provided by the General Secretary of COSATU Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi, in relation to the eligibility of Comrade Lindi Tloubatla to stand for election during Provincial Congress of COSATU in Mpumalanga.
The public statement by SADTU Mpumalanga reminded us of the late ANC President Oliver Tambo’s warning, when he said; “wage a relentless war against disrupters and defend the ANC…Be vigilant, comrades… Beware of the wedge driver, the man who creeps from ear to ear, carrying a bag full of wedges, driving them in between you and the next man, between a group and another, a man who goes round creating splits and divisions.
Beware of the wedge-driver, comrades. Watch his poisonous tongue.”
Clearly the public statement by SADTU Mpumalanga is littered with poisonous undertones and it is no different from our class opponents who are opposed to the progressive and revolutionary agenda as championed by COSATU.
We strongly believe that SADTU has committed a serious political blunder or error by using the media as a hotline, in resolving or dealing with internal and organisational processes.
SADTU has taken a foreign or alien tendency of questioning leadership via the bourgeois and liberal media, and this clearly demonstrates their low levels of working class consciousness and selective understanding of democratic centralism as exercised by revolutionary and working class formations.
We call on SADTU to use established and agreed internal processes in dealing with the matter.
The inability by SADTU to follow internal processes, then COSATU should enforce its Disciplinary Code of Conduct against the SADTU Mpumalanga leadership.
SADTU should not behave as if they are paragons of political correctness by publicly doubting or raising false alarm bells on the political leadership authority of the COSATU General Secretary.
We want to state categorically that NUMSA, did not go to the Provincial Congress with an obsession to elect certain leaders, but went there to arm COSATU with a decisive mandate to champion a revolutionary agenda as elaborated in the Freedom Charter, in the interest of the working class and the poor.
As NUMSA we have no qualms with the political clarity or leadership provided by COSATU General Secretary, in dealing with the matter as empowered by COSATU constitution.
We call on all affiliates to rally behind the leadership collective as elected by the Provincial Congress, and channel all our energies behind the unifying resolutions as agreed by Congress.
Contact:
Eric Linda, Regional Secretary – 083 626 6358
Source
Numsa Press Releases