The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) conveys its unwavering solidarity with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and thousands of metalworkers who today march to the Office of the Presidency to demand urgent state intervention to stop the destruction of South Africa’s smelting and metals sector.
We fully support this decisive action in the face of a deepening industrial crisis marked by mass retrenchments, plant closures and corporate disinvestment. The retrenchment of over 2,000 workers at Glencore, the more than 538 jobs already lost at Almar Investments, and the looming Section 189 process threatening up to 5,000 workers at Samancor represent nothing less than an unfolding industrial catastrophe.
This crisis is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of:
• Deindustrialisation,
• Export of unprocessed minerals,
• The collapse of energy-intensive industries under punitive electricity pricing,
• Trade liberalisation that has allowed cheap imports to wipe out local production,
• And a state that has abandoned a coherent, worker-centred industrial policy.
SAFTU endorses NUMSA’s demands for:
• A national moratorium on retrenchments in strategic industries,
• Urgent state intervention to protect smelters and downstream manufacturing,
• Reduced electricity tariffs for energy-intensive industries,
• Targeted import controls against products that are destroying South Africa’s productive capacity,
• And a bold, aggressive industrial policy that prioritises jobs, localisation, value-addition and industrial sovereignty.
Electricity now accounts for more than 60% of operational costs in smelting. Under these conditions, companies are being structurally driven into closure, and workers are being made to pay the price for policy failure. There can be no industrial recovery without affordable, publicly controlled energy.
This march is not only about NUMSA members. It is about the survival of South Africa’s industrial base, the future of decent work, and the right of working-class communities to sustainable livelihoods. Every job lost in the metals sector destroys entire local economies, deepens poverty and accelerates social collapse.
SAFTU therefore calls on:
• The Government of National Unity,
• The Presidency,
• The Ministers of Trade, Industry, Energy and Labour,
To immediately place the defence of smelters and strategic manufacturing at the centre of economic policy. The state must act as a developmental state, not as a spectator while industries are dismantled.
We salute NUMSA’s leadership for advancing this struggle, and we call on all working-class formations, community organisations and progressive forces to stand united behind this action.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Defend jobs. Defend industry. Defend South Africa.
A statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at
Newton Masuku at
0785164094
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
