Irvin Jim

He became a university student, active in the anti-apartheid movement, but had to leave education to earn money in a tyre factory in Port Elizabeth, where he joined the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA).

[2] He is a strong critic of the ruling African National Congress, which he accuses of failing to implement the 1955 Freedom Charter,[3] and which he blames for xenophobic violence in South Africa.

[4] In January 2015, he toured the United States, speaking to Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union in New York,[5] and the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC.

[3] In his Washington speech, he stated that NUMSA is a Marxist-Leninist union whose goal is the creation of a "Socialist Republic of South Africa".

"[3] He is cooperating with Mosiuoa Lekota of the Congress of the People party,[6] and ousted COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi in a campaign against political corruption in South Africa.