MPUMALANGA — The power struggle inside the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has escalated into an open constitutional standoff, with Mpumalanga regional chairperson Nkosinathi Makhanya saying General Secretary Irvin Jim and the national office-bearers no longer have the authority to run the union.
Speaking in an interview on the crisis rocking NUMSA, Makhanya said a central committee meeting held on the 23rd had resolved to withdraw the powers of the national office-bearers and install a five-member task-coordinating team to steer the union until a national congress can be held.
His account places Jim, who has led the union as general secretary since about 2008, at the centre of the dispute. Jim and other national leaders are accused of failing to convene ordinary National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings since early 2025.
A central committee moves against the office-bearers
According to Makhanya, the conflict grew out of mounting frustration among members and regions over what they describe as non-compliance with the union’s constitution.
He said the union’s 2022 national congress was heavily contested and became the subject of litigation, and that the term of office of the national office-bearers came to an end at the close of July. Regional congresses were due in July but were shifted to December at the instance of the national office-bearers, with a national congress to follow.
A central committee was subsequently convened in December 2025 to endorse a budget and map the route through the regional congresses to the national congress, he said.
The deeper grievance, Makhanya argued, is that the union has gone roughly 20 months without a proper NEC meeting. The last such sitting, he said, took place in February of the previous year, despite repeated requests that the NEC be convened.
Decisions taken by the central committee, he added, were either left unimplemented or replaced with contrary decisions — a disregard, in his view, for both the constitution and resolutions adopted by the union.
Court battles and a collapsed sitting
Makhanya said the attempt to convene a central committee itself became a point of contention. Notice was issued in July, but the meeting only took place in August, and was then collapsed by the national office-bearers, he claimed. He described the overall process as having taken seven months.
That prompted recourse to the courts. Several regions, he said, approached the courts demanding compliance with the union’s constitution and policy. Makhanya confirmed that he was an applicant in one of the matters, which concerned an attempt by the national office-bearers to prevent Mpumalanga leaders from participating in the central committee that was collapsed.
The central committee that eventually sat did so against the background of outstanding court judgments, he said.
Five-person task team to run the union
It was at the central committee meeting of the 23rd that the decision was taken to strip the national office-bearers of their powers, Makhanya said.
A task-coordinating team of five people was appointed, drawing on former NUMSA leadership figures, including a former general secretary of the union. The team has been mandated to take charge of the union up to a successful national congress, he said, with the central committee remaining the structure that manages the union between congresses in terms of the constitution.
The practical result is a contested chain of command: the central committee, described as the highest decision-making body between congresses, now claims the powers and functions previously exercised by the officials responsible for NUMSA’s day-to-day running.
Special NEC meeting rejected as unconstitutional
The call for an urgent special NEC meeting — scheduled to begin the previous evening and sitting again as Makhanya spoke — has been rejected outright by the Mpumalanga regional leadership.
Makhanya said his side does not recognise the meeting, arguing that it was convened by officials whose powers had already been withdrawn and that it disregarded the central committee’s resolution.
He also challenged the composition of the gathering, saying some participants were pensioners or office-bearers whose terms had expired. A “minority”, he argued, was attempting to impose its authority over the majority.
On procedure, he said the constitution requires seven days’ notice for an NEC meeting, and a further process involving the agenda and five days’ notice where a meeting does not proceed. Those requirements, he alleged, were not met.
Among the mandate problems he identified:
– The national office-bearers’ terms ended in July, and the constitution provides no extension, he said, noting that office-bearers are also part of the NEC.
– Two regions represented at the special meeting had mandates that expired in April, even though calls for re-congresses had been made.
– The first deputy president went on pension in March but continues to exercise office-bearer powers.
– The organising secretary retired on pension three years ago but remains in the position.
It was on this basis that Makhanya characterised the gathering as a collection of people without a valid mandate.
Allegations against Irvin Jim
Beyond the procedural dispute, Makhanya directed serious personal allegations at Jim, saying the crisis rests “solely” on the general secretary’s conduct as an individual.
He alleged that Jim had threatened him and had sought to physically assault regional officials, including the KwaZulu-Natal regional secretary. A complaint had been laid, he said, but the union president had defended Jim.
The constitution provides that the conduct of a worker leader must be addressed through the union’s structures, Makhanya said. Those structures, he argued, had been paralysed, leaving officials with no avenue to raise such complaints.
The central committee’s decision of the 23rd therefore did two things, he said: removed the office-bearers’ powers and called for an NEC, including consideration of a report which he alleged implicated Jim and which, Makhanya claimed, the general secretary had sought to avoid.
Road to the November–December congress
With NUMSA’s national congress expected at the end of November or beginning of December, the immediate question is whether Jim can still seek to lead the union.
Makhanya’s answer was emphatic: no.
He said the majority had already rejected Jim and the rest of the national office-bearers, and that regions were calling for new leadership because confidence in the existing team had collapsed. In his assessment, the crisis marks the end of Jim’s road at NUMSA.
The competing claims over who is entitled to convene meetings, appoint structures and represent the union leave the coming congress as the likely testing ground for the dispute. Jim and the other national office-bearers were to be approached to put their side of the story; their response was not contained in the interview.
