NUMSA
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| Full name | National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa |
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| Founded | 1987 |
| Members | >338,000 (2013) |
| Affiliation | SAFTU |
| Key people |
Andrew Chirwa, president Irvin Jim, general secretary |
| Office location | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Country | South Africa |
| Website | www.numsa.org.za |
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is the biggest single trade union in South Africa with more than 338,000 members, and prior to its expulsion on 8 November 2014, the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country's largest trade union federation.
The union considers itself to be Marxist-Leninist, and has had a fraught relationship with the South African Communist Party (SACP), which it considers to be no longer adhering to Marxist-Leninist principles. Post-1994, NUMSA became known within the Tripartite Alliance between COSATU, the SACP and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for its refusal to remain silent on controversial ANC policies, especially its promotion of privatisation and its failure to end mass poverty in the country.
As of 2013, the union has over 340,000 members throughout South Africa.
At the conclusion on 20 December 2013 of a special national congress held in Boksburg, NUMSA withdrew support from the ANC and SACP altogether, and called for an alternative movement of the working class. The union stated that it would not endorse any political party in the 2014 South African general election, but that individual members were free to campaign for the party of their choice, provided they do so in their own time using their own resources. It called for COSATU to break from the Tripartite Alliance and form a united front of left-wing forces similar to the United Democratic Front (UDF) during the struggle against Apartheid. As part of this, it called a conference for 2014 to explore the possibility of establishing a new workers' socialist party. NUMSA remained a COSATU affiliate until 8 November 2014, although it resolved to cease its R800 000 monthly subscription fee payments to the federation. In December, 2013 the union also said it would also stop paying contributions to the South African Communist Party (SACP). Up until that time they had been paying the SACP R1-million a year. It has issued a call for the resignation of Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa.
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