Address by COSATU President, cde Sidumo Dlamini on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the National Union of Mineworkers on the 09th December 2012 at James Motlatsi Stadium, Orkney, North West, December 9 2012
09 December 2012
The president of the NUM comrade Senzeni Zokwana,
The leadership of the NUM from all levels,
The leadership of the Alliance present here today
The membership of the NUM
Today the NUM is turning 30 years
This is an emotional day and I feel like saying iNUM inkunzi emidwa yidwa, abakade beyidwenguza, inkunzi emnxebanxeba abayihlab'esiphangeni , bayishiya beth' iphangalele kanti izivuk'itshekule iphekelele igcin'idl'ubhedu
Inkunz'ehlul'ufive madoda beyibambe bethi bayikhip'zimpondo kanti izophenduk'iQundulu ehlab'iphindelela
This is the NUM which has survived all kinds of attacks this is the NUM which defeated the apartheid regime, this the NUM which defeated the Mouth piece and five madoda.
This the NUM which has over and over again taught us that an organization built on firm principles and with a strong foundation of unity of purpose can always regroup and rise to rebuild itself into a formidable force.
If you do not believe what I am saying go and ask the employers and opposition unions. They fear NUM even when it is asleep because they know what this Giant union of Elijah Barahayi is capable of doing.
They know what this fighting Giant union of Cyril Ramaphosa and James Motlatsi can do. They have seen this fighting union of Kgalema Motlante at war and emerging victorious.
We are here today to celebrate the victories of NUM. As COSATU we are proud to be associated with this union.
We are proud to have as an affiliate a union that put workers first, an innovative union, a non compromising fighting union
The history of NUM is inseparable from the history of our National Liberation struggle.
The NUM has throughout its history ensured a link between trade union politics and revolutionary politics.
The NUM was the first union in this country to adopt the Freedom Charter and carried this resolution to have it adopted by COSATU.
Through this action the NUM placed firmly on the agenda of the progressive trade union movement a need to prepare our cadres to serve as trade union organizers and as activists for our national liberation struggle.
It is because of this political clarity that the NUM has over the years produced leaders, organizers and Shop Stewards who are effective in representing workers at the work place but also effective in community struggles.
It is therefore not a surprise that many of the NUM leaders went on to occupy strategic positions in the economic and political life of the country as a continuation to pursue the National Liberation objectives.
It therefore should not surprise us that there is an attempt to weaken and ultimately destroy the NUM which is being seen as close to the ANC.
The failed attempt to destroy the NUM is the failed attempt to destroy the ANC. Anyone who attacks the NUM has a hidden intention to demobilize the and destroy the ANC.
Both attempts have failed as seen in the stability that is emerging in NUM and as will be seen when the ANC emerges united from Mangaung!
The NUM has over the years invested in building a solid base of leadership.
It was because of the solid base of shop stewards that in 1987 the NUM led one of the longest strikes in South Africa under the leadership of comrade Cyril Ramaphosa and James Motlatsi.
History has recorded that approximately 360 000 Black miners went on strike over wage and working conditions.
It lasted for three weeks costing the Chamber of Mines close on R250 million.
In an attempt to break the strike, the Chamber of Mines retrenched approximately 50 000 workers.
It is also recorded that during that strike action 11 people died, 500 were injured and over 400 workers were arrested.
This was one of the strike actions which added to the qualitative political developments which mounted pressure forcing the Apartheid regime to realize that it was no longer possible to rule in the old way.
When the Apartheid regime was forced to negotiate , one of the injuries they were carrying were the blows inflicted by the 1987 NUM strike.
We want to salute the workers who participated in this decisive action and many of them lost their lives and hundreds were dismissed and lost their jobs.
We want to remove our hurts as we celebrate the thirty fighting years of the NUM.
There is no battle which the NUM has taken up and did not come out with lessons and implemented the intervention strategies from those lessons to drive change inside the organizations and set standards and trends for the rest.
For an example the Provident Fund which was established with the Chamber of mines was as a result of the mineworkers' strike that took place in 1987.
The establishment of the Mineworkers Provident Fund ushered in a new way of managing retirement funds in South Africa.
It was the trendsetter in member representation in that communication to members became key to Trustees to ensure that members knew and understood the decisions taken by them.
Members could now influence decisions by putting forward issues that they needed to be discussed and considered by the Board of Trustees.
Today through this fund mineworkers have the Retirement benefit , Ill health, Death benefits, Terminally ill, Retrenchment benefits, Dismissal benefits, Funeral benefits for the member and the member's immediate family, Funeral benefits for the member after retirement age, Standing surety for Housing loans.
We already know that those who want to destroy the NUM are now considering mobilizing workers to demand their death benefits something which they know is the money reserved to look after the families when a worker passes away.
We want to make a call to the workers never to allow themselves to be used by the vultures!
We call on workers to rise and defend their NUM.
This is your NUM defend it. If your see your leaders committing mistakes call them to order but never leave your unions which you have build through collective effort over the years.
Defend your NUM, own your NUM, and use your NUM to fight mine bosses because that is what it was built for.
You have no other insurance except this NUM. Your future is secured in NUM. Those who want you to leave your NUM; you must know that they have their bank accounts full of money to secure them in the future!
This is your NUM use it when you fight and don't destroy it.
The NUM is here to stay another 30years and even more than that and the NUM will continue to grow in strength and in numbers.
Comrades as we celebrate the 30 years of NUM we do so also in the context of celebrating the 100 years of the ANC ,the people's movement , our ally which will be having the 53rd National Congress in Mangaung.
There are two things we want to achieve in Mangaung - the first one is to unite the ANC and to come back with a strong team of leadership under comrade Jacob Zuma as the President of the ANC who will continue to be a glue that holds the ANC based on firm principles of discipline and a radical economic programme that will uplift the lives of the working class.
Secondly we go to Mangaung carrying with us the experiences of the recent wild cat strikes in the mining sector.
What we have seen happening in the mining sector represents an inevitable outcome of a production system which is based on exploitation that has historically treated human life as cheap and disposable.
We go to Mangaung to say that the South Africa's mining employers can no longer continue to amass wealth on the bases of cheap African labor.
At the centre of this cheap African labor in the mines is the use of labor brokers which dates back in 1901, when the Chamber of Mines set up a recruiting organization known as the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (or WNLA).
These labor brokers sent agents to villages all over Southern Africa, as far north as Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi, along the east coast of Mozambique, and to Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana to recruit Africans to provide cheap labor in the mines.
In 1912 the Chamber of mines also set up another labor broker the Native Recruiting Corporation to recruit African labor into the mines.
All this was facilitated by such laws as the and hut taxes, pass laws, Masters and Servants Acts and the imposed conditions of poverty in the reserves which forced Africans to see employment in the mines as the only way out.
It is for this reason that as COSATU we would like to say that if this 30 years celebration of the life of the NUM is to have any meaning, it will have to be to make a commitment to force government to Ban Labor Brokers and not to regulate them.
We also want to emphasize that if this 30 year celebration is to have any meaning, it must be to force mine employers to implement the mining charter.
Our people must share in the wealth that they produce in the mines; this 30 year celebration of the NUM must be a celebration of committing to realize the clauses of the freedom charter which says that:
The People Shall Share in the Country`s Wealth!
The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people;
The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole;
All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people;
All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions.
May the NUM live another 30 years and beyond in the service of the workers and waging a relentless war to the employers!
Amandla!
Issued by COSATU, December 9 2012
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