Labor Group Split to Boost Opposition to South Africa’s ANC

The expulsion of South Africa’s biggest labor union from a federation that helped end apartheid will boost opposition to the ruling African National Congress and may fuel labor unrest at a time when economic growth has already been cut by strikes.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions expelled the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, which has about 350,000 members, on Nov. 8 after it withdrew support for the ANC because it said the government’s economic policies are failing the poor. Numsa plans to hold mass meetings, attract more members and set up a “national united front” that may form a political party to contest 2016 local-council elections.