Relax Capital, the NUM is here to stay

I have noted with keen interest reports that Lonmin bosses conducted an investigation into allegations that some NUM shop-stewards faked stop orders to steal members from AMCU. Whether this is true or not, is not the matter I should entertain here (see report).  However what is worthy of consideration at the moment is Lonmin bosses' inconsistency in dealing with labour issues at the company.  Claims that AMCU is a capital-sponsored trade union are emerging for everybody to see, with current developments at Lonmin confirming that claim beyond the shadow of any doubt.

For months the NUM has been making a call that there is serious intimidation and threats of violence at Lonmin and that workers are coerced to join AMCU - did Lonmin bosses act? That NUM t-shirts cannot be worn at Lonmin is an open secret - are the mining bosses not aware? If Lonmin bosses were fair they could have launched an investigation into these issues and refused verification until the dust settled.  It is public knowledge that the entire membership of AMCU did not join that organization by choice but through fear of the barrel of a gun.

What is sad is the fact that when allegations of faked stop orders were made, Lonmin bosses jumped to investigate the matter and in no time outcomes were made public.  We know, and they know very well, that the current turmoil in the platinum belt is created by capital and the objective is to divide workers so that they are rendered vulnerable. The capital-sponsored organisation AMCU has not the capacity to sustain its existence in the mining sector in general and soon it will die its natural death.

The NUM was not formed based on lies and cosy relations with monopoly capital but was formed at a critical time when the apartheid state together with mining bosses were terribly brutal. It was also formed on the foundations of the self-organisation of workers in the mines over generations. This means the NUM is built of strong stuff and rooted in the very lives of the workers it represents. Let capital relax - the NUM is here to stay.

Benson Ngqentsu

Cape Town, Khayelitsha

Benson ka-Ngqentsu is SACP District Secretary Brian Bunting (Cape Metro)

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