NUMSA REJECTS ATTEMPTS BY DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE (DA) OF TURNING CHRIS HANI INTO A NEOLIBERAL CONMAN

11 April 2013

The National Office Bearers (NOBs') of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) notes the mischievous attempts by the Democratic Alliance (DA) through its rented mouthpiece Mmusi Maimane of reclaiming the late SA Communist Party General Secretary comrade Chris Hani's revolutionary legacy and struggle role.

As Numsa we regard the fascist DA, as a chief representative of neoliberalism, and defenders of apartheid Whites ill-gotten wealth and privileges. The DA seeks to misappropriate the revolutionary name of comrade Hani, under the pretext of national reconciliation to the Black African majority which suffered under capitalist, racist and sexist policies that comrade Hani fought against and which the DA and its predecessors defended under Apartheid. Just like the late Margaret Thatcher regarded the ANC as a terrorist organisation, the DA of yesteryear hated comrade Hani and all that he stood for with a passion.

The DA is attempting a cocktail mixture of a failed strategy by the bourgeois or capitalist class of stealing revolutionary heroes to advance a counter-revolutionary agenda. The DA has attempted to deceive South Africans with the same rhetoric in relation to comrade Nelson Mandela, who remains a member of the African National Congress (ANC), unlike some who switched loyalty and membership from the ANC to the right-wing DA.

The DA's ideological orientation and character, including its right-wing agenda represents the opposite of what comrade Hani stood for as a Communist and genuine leader of the working class and the poor of our country.

This newly-found love and admiration of comrade Hani's revolutionary role and contribution to the struggle by the DA in the context of material inequalities we inherited from our apartheid past, so passionately defended by the DA and continue to be perpetuated by Big business, is not sustainable. A non-racial, non-sexist and truly democratic South Africa that comrade Hani sacrificed, fought and died for will not be achieved without the resolution of class inequalities and redistribution of wealth.

The DA should not use comrade Hani's name for opportunistic and self-serving political agendas and interests to leverage mass support amongst the working class and the poor of our country. Comrade Hani remains the collective property of the working class and the poor of our country under the leadership of the ANC-led Alliance, with the vanguard party of the working class, the SACP and shield and spear of workers, COSATU. Comrade Hani continues to be a living symbol of our people's resolve to achieve the goals of the Freedom Charter and a better life for all.

As Numsa, as a key affiliate of COSATU, an Alliance partner to the ANC and SACP will continue to be pole-bearers of Chris Hani's legacy to build a better and Socialist South Africa, and eradicate DA's predecessor's policies and legacy that continues to afflict our people, especially amongst the working class and the poor.

Comrade Chris Hani died a Communist and not a Capitalist or self-seeking Johnny-come-lately.

Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, April 11 2013

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