By: Daily sun

THE General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa) is opposed to the upcoming African Critical Minerals Summit (ACMS).

The union said the summit is an illegitimate gathering of the imperialist and neocolonial corporate and political elite to plot the scramble for Africa.

Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei said the ACMS is aimed at plundering the continent's critical minerals, dispossessing communities of their land and ruthlessly exploiting its working-class labour.

"As we are rejecting this gathering, we are also fighting for a clear, revolutionary socialist mining alternative strategy for the working class of South Africa, the region, and the continent," he said.

Sebei insisted that the land and its mineral wealth in Africa belong to the people of the continent, not "some parasitic elites" and "imperialist corporations".

The summit is scheduled to take place from 25 to 26 August at Indaba Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre in Sandton, north of Joburg.

Sebei said the minerals should be taken into common ownership by means of nationalisation and democratic control by the working class and communities.