COSATU condemns murders of NUM leaders
The Congress of South African Trade Unions strongly condemns the latest brutal murders of members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
They include the NUM branch secretary at Western Platinum, who was shot and killed at his house in Marikana, and the NUM Branch chairperson who was killed last weekend. Another branch leader escaped but tragically his wife was killed. An unemployed cousin of an NUM shop steward was shot and killed at the shop steward's house in what is reported to be a case of mistaken identity.
The NUM Khomanani Branch chairperson was seriously injured after his house was torched and in the West Rand a shop steward was dragged from his room and shot at close range; in the Free State five workers have been injured.
Five NUM members - two of them shop-stewards - were killed in violence associated with a strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana between 10-16 August, and of the 34 people shot dead by police on 16 August, 14 were NUM members. On 11 September, a third NUM shop steward, Dumisani Mthinti, was found hacked to death near the scene of this shooting.
COSATU sends a message of condolence to the families, friends and fellow-workers of those who died, and calls for the speedy detection and arrest of their murderers. There can be absolutely no justification for such barbarous acts of murder and the SAPS must move with far greater urgency to hunt down and prosecute the culprits.
These acts are part of an onslaught on the NUM and COSATU and the working class as a whole. They are intended to intimidate workers into submission, but they will not succeed. The NUM has a proud 30-year tradition of struggling for workers rights and a better life for workers in the mines, and they will not be deterred from keeping up the fight, no matter how brutal the attacks being made against them.
Meanwhile COSATU reaffirms its call for the mining employers to reopen talks, bring forward the renegotiation of the existing collective agreement in the gold and coal sectors and bring to the table a revised pay offer which responds to the legitimate and justified demands being made by the striking workers.
We urge the platinum mining companies to immediately engage in collective bargaining, and to stop making separate offers to particular groups of workers, a tactic which sparked off the initial protests, which are still spreading throughout the industry and beyond.
The underlying cause of the escalating unrest is the appalling levels of pay and dreadful working conditions in the industry. That is why COSATU is calling for a Commission to investigate the underlying employment and social conditions of workers in the industry, trace the history of mining, its past and present discriminatory practices, its reliance on cheap labour, and the history of treating mine workers as subhuman.
Through struggles in the trenches, the NUM has made huge strides over 30 years, winning improvements in pay and conditions. But much remains unchanged, not as a result of weaknesses of the NUM, but due to the pathetic levels of pay and bad working conditions and the industry's resistance to radical transformation.
Now is the time to put an end to the super-exploitation of the mine workers and to start to pay them a decent wage which reflects the importance of the job they do and the high levels of skill, danger and risks to health that it involves.
Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, October 8 2012
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