by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE South African Communist Party (SACP) has warned that the closure of industries across the country is accelerating de-industrialisation and deepening unemployment among the working class.
General Secretary Solly Mapaila raised the alarm at the conclusion of the party’s Central Committee meeting held at COSATU House in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
He noted that thousands of jobs had been lost in recent years as factories shut down and mining operations scaled back.
“De-industrialisation continues. The closure of Iscor, a former state-owned enterprise privatised to ArcelorMittal, together with 12 companies in the automotive sector — including Gabriel, Goodyear, Johnson Matthey, KLT, NGK, Venture, Foxtec, Steelbest and Jaschke — in just two years has retrenched thousands of workers,” Mapaila said.
He added that further retrenchments had hit the automotive assembly industry and mining, intensifying the crisis.
The SACP pledged solidarity with unions such as the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), calling on government to act decisively to protect workers.
“We urge the state to strengthen its interventions, including responding to tariffs imposed by the United States under Donald Trump, while safeguarding trade sovereignty,” Mapaila said.
He reaffirmed the party’s call for a “people’s economy” based on collective ownership and social solidarity.
This, he argued, required a stronger industrial policy to prioritise local production of equipment such as tractors, irrigation systems and borehole machinery, linked to research, innovation and job creation.
“The SACP is also advancing a co-operative banking system to break the dominance of capitalist finance and redirect savings towards development, not private profit,” Mapaila concluded.
– CAJ News