NUMSA has collapsed into open warfare, with two rival camps claiming power, suspending each other and issuing competing orders while ordinary members are left with no idea who is actually running the union.
The split hardened this week. One camp stands behind general secretary Irvin Jim and the national office bearers. The other camp is built around regional leaders and former national leaders, including former deputy president Karl Cloete and former general secretary Silumko Nondwangu.
Both sides say they held a Special National Executive Committee. Both sides say the other side has no authority.
On Tuesday, the regional leaders’ camp addressed journalists at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. They said their SNEC had set aside their own suspensions, confirmed the decisions taken by the central committee on 23 October 2026, and brought back the Task Coordinating Team to manage the union.
According to the camp, Jim had tried to stop the meeting through a letter. The letter was considered and rejected.
The camp said the 23 October central committee was properly constituted and its decisions remain valid and binding. It added that no court has set those decisions aside.
It also said national office bearers were invited to attend the meeting and were given a chance to take part and raise any concerns.
The meeting then resolved to suspend Jim, Mbuso Ngubane and the remaining worker national office bearers with immediate effect, pending investigations into alleged misconduct under Chapter 3(c)(v) of the NUMSA Constitution.
Jim and Ngubane face allegations that include dereliction of duties, bringing the union into disrepute, gross violation of the union constitution, gross violation and wasteful expenditure, and gross violation of constitutional procedures.
The regional camp says eight regions supported the meeting. It listed KwaZulu-Natal, Jack Charles Bezuidenhout, Mpumalanga, Western Cape, Ekurhuleni, Eastern Cape, Sedibeng and Hlanganani. It also said 26 delegates attended, one more than the 25 needed for a two-thirds quorum.
Jim’s camp had moved first. Last week it announced that its own special NEC had overturned the central committee decision that removed powers from the leadership and had cancelled the Task Coordinating Team created by that committee.
Responding on Tuesday, Jim dismissed the other camp’s authority.
He said the faction had no power to suspend anyone because its members were themselves suspended.
“I am not answerable to rogue individuals. Whatever they say resemble their confusion their rogue acts of misconduct so I can’t be spending time on their shenanigans,” Jim said.
Before the press conference, Jim had already described the gathering as a “bogus central committee” called by unauthorised people on suspension.
“These individuals, having been suspended are seeking power outside the established constitutional framework, are acting out of self-interest and greed,” he said.
He warned media houses that attending the event did not mean they were covering a legitimate or properly constituted NUMSA press conference.
The war of statements continued on 13 November, when the Acting National Office Bearers accused Jim of choosing “propaganda over accountability”.
The statement criticised Jim’s appearance on SABC television on the evening of 12 November 2026, saying he had failed to account to members for his leadership and for the crisis facing the union.
The Acting National Office Bearers said the Task Coordinating Team was appointed by the Central Committee and was mandated to coordinate operations while the national office bearers are suspended, convene four outstanding Regional Congresses and prepare for the 12th National Congress.
They said the suspension of the national office bearers followed constitutional processes and that the leaders were invited to the relevant NEC and central committee meetings but did not attend.
“The suspended NOBs have no authority to unilaterally suspend or expel democratically elected regional leaders,” the statement said.
The statement rejected the SNEC convened by the suspended office bearers as constitutionally illegitimate, arguing that suspended leaders cannot create authority for themselves.
“This so-called SNEC, which has effectively become a stokvel of delinquents seeking to preserve their positions and influence, cannot substitute itself for NUMSA’s legitimate constitutional structures,” it said.
The Acting National Office Bearers said Jim will get a chance to present his case in the Gauteng High Court on 17 November 2026.
They also said Jim fears an independent forensic investigation into alleged financial and organisational malfeasance during his tenure, and that lifestyle audits will be conducted.
“NUMSA belongs to its membership, not to any individual or group of individuals. No leader is above the Constitution,” the statement said.