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Pretoria - Nothing had been achieved to change the lives of the poor and working class, according to National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) president Andrew Chirwa.
"There is no good story to tell. It is a fairy tale. The working class
and poor people have a bad story to tell," he said at the opening of
Numsa's national bargaining conference in Pretoria on Monday.
"What have we achieved in this regard? We are not moving forward. Instead we are worse than 10 years ago."
White capital vs black capital
Chirwa said all the ANC had achieved was replacing white capital with black capital. The struggle for freedom had got rid of apartheid, but capitalism remained.
"A white man was replaced by a black man."
"Working class, employed and unemployed is under siege.... For the first time a litre of petrol is about R15."
Delegates wearing red union T-shirts and black and red tracksuits clapped their hands and others whistled as they sang.
"It is nice to trust in Numsa," they sang in isiZulu.
There was a giant poster of former president Nelson Mandela on the right side of the podium and one showing former Numsa leaders on the left.
