NUMSA RESPONSE TO THE SURVEY BY SARR ON ‘ANC LOSING SUPPORT'

26 January 2011

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is incensed and flabbergasted by the reactionary survey done by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SARR) claiming that the African National Congress (ANC) is losing support. The survey insinuates that the ANC is losing support in local communities, and the chief proponents of apartheid privileges and power - the Democratic Alliance (DA) is gaining prominence and hegemony in local municipalities.

This survey is nothing else, but a cheap ploy to weaken the dominance and hegemony of the ANC at the local government level in favour of the DA. This agenda by the SARR in cahoots with their Afrikanerdom elites and imperialist sponsors will be defeated by the vast majority of our communities when they retain the ANC into power in these forthcoming local government elections. The survey is detached from electoral and political realities, as evidenced by recent victories in by-elections by the ANC in most parts of the country.

The question that SARR should answer publicly is for whose class interests and agenda are this survey's being done? Which class force or stratum stands to benefit from this survey's? Which agenda are these surveys are going to champion in eliminating the apartheid patterns at local government level? Which domestic and foreign forces that funded this survey? How is the survey going to help our people to get water, housing, electricity and sanitation?

What is clear emanating from the survey is that SARR has taken a hostile stance against the ANC in favour of the DA. This demands SARR to declare itself as an intellectual think-tank of the DA, which is similar to the Afrikanerbond, which was an intellectual hub of the most heinous apartheid system that was declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations (UN).

The working class and the poor communities will not be fooled by this survey which was hatched in Helen Zille's laundry room. Our people know the gains that they have made in their respective municipalities or localities under the control of the ANC. The people of the Western Cape in municipalities under the DA know the humiliation they are suffering as a result of open-air toilets, forced evictions or removals from their homes so that Zille and De Lille can have their honeymoon in a newly built golf course.

As Numsa we are proud of the sterling work done by the ANC at various municipalities. And our Shopstewards and members will be working tirelessly for an overwhelming victory of the ANC in these upcoming local government elections. The ANC dominance and power is not under threat from any political formations, the IFP has been buried by its own squabbles  and the its members and leaders who are tired of infighting should just  vote the ANC as it is their natural home, the Shikota outfit -COPE- has imploded and ravaged by its own external leadership power squabbles, its members are busy queuing in different ANC Braches to rejoin the ANC, the PAC and AZAPO are a monument at Freedom Park, both these formations have heeded the ANC call that these formations were formed by power-mongers that wanted to weaken the ANC, and the DA -ID coalition is in disarray because it was not a genuine coalition, but a love and hate marriage to ascend to power by the two power-mongers Zille and Patricia.

Statement issued by Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, January 26 2011

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