The National Treasurer of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), Mphumzi Maqungo, recently visited the Bay Area and gave presentations at ILWU Local 10, UC Berkeley and the Black Repertory Theater.

NUMSA, which represents 340,000 workers and is the largest union in South Africa, recently broke from the ANC (African National Congress), the party of Nelson Mandela, due to its abandonment of the Freedom Charter and support for IMF economic policies, which have resulted in the immiseration of the South African working class since the end of apartheid in 1994. This process culminated in the Marikana massacre of 2012, at which striking platinum miners were deliberately executed by police acting under orders from the highest levels of the ANC government.

Maqungo signed a solidarity statement for Mumia on behalf of his union, which is reproduced below.