Numsa says leaving government alliance

South Africa’s biggest union said on Monday (27/10/2014) it was breaking its alliance with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and launching a socialist party, in a major blow to a coalition that has governed since apartheid ended in 1994.

“We decided to break with the alliance and we resolved to form a United Front and explore the possibility for socialism in South Africa,” the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) said in a statement.

But NUMSA said it did not plan to voluntarily leave the COSATU labour federation that is the ANC’s official partner in a governing alliance forged in the struggle against apartheid that also includes the South African Communist Party.

COSATU last week postponed a vote to expel NUMSA, which has been pursuing a left-wing agenda after falling out with President Jacob Zuma’s ANC over economic and labour policy. - Reuters