Abandon capitalist system, urges Numsa

Numsa's general secretary Irvin Jim File picture: Steve Lawrence

Numsa's general secretary Irvin Jim File picture: Steve Lawrence

Published Mar 2, 2014

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Johannesburg - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA on Sunday called for capitalism to be abandoned saying it had failed South Africans.

“We at Numsa have no illusion that only a total destruction of capitalism and all it represents, can save the earth and give birth to a new civilisation,” Irvin Jim told reporters in Johannesburg.

Jim said capitalism was imported by colonialism.

“The SA capitalist state did not emerge as a result of an internal popular anti-feudal revolution.”

He said capitalism had depended heavily on imperialist centres.

Jim said 20 years after the democratic transition, the colonial status of the black majority had remained in place.

Out of the 26 million South Africans who live in abject poverty, 25 million were Africans and this was proof enough that capitalism had failed.

“All economic policies since 1994 have been incapable of defeating colonialism of a special type and the effects of apartheid capitalism, which condemned the SA black working class to a life of misery and hardship,” said Jim. - Sapa

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