Malema expulsion will not unite the ANC

Written by Weizmann Hamilton Wednesday, 02 May 2012 10:40

The expulsion of Malema may, for now, provide a surge behind Zuma’s campaign for a second term and increase, if not his actual prospects of being president of both the ANC and the country until 2019, certainly his own confidence that he will. But this will prove to be a Pyrrhic victory – a victory that has done so much damage to the ANC that it will turn-out out not to have been worthwhile.

The illusions that Zuma’s accession to power would lead to the ANC’s ideological re-birth and organisational re-unification have evaporated as rapidly as the coalition of convenience, led by Malema, that elevated Zuma into office has disintegrated.

Far more clearly than in the Mbeki/ Zuma factional battle, particularly from Zuma’s corner of the ring, this conflict is seen for what it is: a bare-knuckled struggle for control of the state for access to resources for self-enrichment by rival capitalist factions, in which ideology is little more than stage costume. It is inflicting incalculable damage on the ANC’s political credibility and organisational cohesion, without making the slightest difference to its historical ideological orientation.

But this factional civil war is not taking place in a social vacuum. In insisting that he is being persecuted politically for raising the issue of nationalisation and expropriation of land to address inequalities in the distribution of wealth, Malema is exposing and capitalising on an undeniable reality – that the ANC’s economic policies have been a complete failure for a working class now seething with discontent.

Malema’s attempts to shift the battle onto the ideological plain has been severely compromised by credible allegations of corruption, and the undeniable reality that, in class terms, he is indistinguishable from his foe. They are both the same social stock – petty bourgeois aspirant capitalists – and both determined to get rich as quickly as possible.

Whereas Malema has adopted a left-wing posture, the ANC under Zuma has shifted to the right. By retaining the same capitalist policies that alienated Mbeki’s regime from the ANC rank-and-file and from the masses, Zuma has ensured that the wrath of the masses is turning against his administration, fuelled by the unfulfilled promise that the Zuma-era would be the era of the poor.

In times of social crisis, the growing resistance of the masses produces divisions within the ruling elite centring around how to respond to the demands of the masses; will it suffice to contain their discontent by continuing as before or by developing new policies – to wield the stick or offer the carrot.

Much more clearly than pre-Polokwane, which was characterised by a vague anti-neo-liberalism, what Malema has injected into the conflict is the semblance of a programmatic albeit populist adaptation of the economic policies of the Zuma administration.

By focussing on both the inequalities in the distribution of wealth between the working class and the capitalists, as well as the continued domination of the commanding heights of the economy by white capital, the ANCYL’s economic freedom campaign has sharply exposed the impotence of the Zuma leadership’s economic policies. Not only has the ANC failed the working class; the aspirant black capitalist class whose interests the ANC was created to advance, has not fared any better.

The disciplinary action against Malema, both in content and in procedure, reveals the extent to which the ANC leaders stand in terror of the possibility of alienating their capitalist masters. The extraordinary lengths the ANC has gone in the disciplinary case have little to do with the charges themselves. In pursuit of its factional aims, the Zuma leadership has been prepared to inflict irreparable damage on the ANC’s internal regime with the blatant manipulation of the ANC’s disciplinary processes and charges so laughable that were they consistently applied would result in the ANC becoming embroiled in perpetual prosecutions and wholesale expulsions.

What horrifies the Zuma faction is the potential of Malema’s campaign to find an echo not only amongst the unemployed youth but the ANC’s natural constituency – the aspirant black capitalist class. The disciplinary hearing was conducted like a show trial, with the SABC commandeered in a desperate attempt to discredit him in the eyes of working class youth who might be aroused by his populism, but mainly to appease big business – to reassure them that the ANC stands ready to defend the status quo; that no threat to private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange – that is the economic dictatorship of the capitalist class – will be tolerated.

No less than when the Zuma/Mbeki conflict first provided the platform for today’s virtually permanent factionalism, the Malema/ Zuma battle is an indirect expression of the polarisation between the classes in society. But whatever the outcome at Mangaung, the erosion of ANC support among all social classes will continue.

Victory by the Malema faction will be of no benefit to the working class. For all his radical posturing, Malema is no less a capitalist than Zuma. His programme promises no more than to try to use the state to speed up the development of the black capitalist class as the Nationalist Party did with the Afrikaner bourgeoisie. The eradication of inequalities, poverty and mass unemployment is impossible under capitalism. Victory by Zuma will mean a continuation of the same capitalist policies, with the same results.

For the working class the only way forward is the creation of a mass party on a socialist programme. Such a party will emerge through struggle, the coming together of the service delivery protests, the annual student protests against financial and academic exclusions and industrial action in the workplace all of which continue to escalate. The DSM is campaigning for the Assembly for Working Class Unity called by the Thembelihle Crisis Committee in October 2011 to be reconvened, drawing in communities, students, youth and workers from across the country to develop a common platform, a common programme of action and a representative leadership to lay the foundation for a mass workers party on a socialist programme.

Impala workers: revolting against the NUM’s betrayal

Written by Happy Nokwane Wednesday, 02 May 2012 10:29

On March 20, workers of Impala Platinum chased away the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from over 20 of Impala’s shafts, and the workers’ independent committee took over the running of the offices. This gives an indication of the serious crisis we as mine workers in Rustenburg face because of the NUM, the biggest union in the mines. In the mining industry many workers lost their jobs. But the NUM does nothing. In fact, the NUM is an accomplice of the mine owners in many job losses. Workers no longer trust their union.

The Impala shafts which have now been taken over by the workers’ committee are the ones that were involved in the drawn-out strike which started with 6000 rock drill operators (RDOs) laying down tools in February 2012. The RDOs went on strike after finding out that they were earning half the wages (R4500 compared to R9000) of other workers – miners and LHD drivers – as they were left out of a wage increase agreement which had been negotiated by the NUM. The strike was declared illegal and all these workers were dismissed. Without the RDOs, the mine could not operate. Their colleagues demanded that the company must give them all equal wage increases. In total 17200 employees embarked on strike. Meanwhile the NUM was supporting the employer saying that the strike was illegal. When Impala fired all 17 200 workers, the NUM commented in the media that management had made a mistake in allowing the workers to remain in the hostels after dismissing them.

The strike started to be violent when the NUM and the employer re-employed some workers while dismissing others, which is selective re-employment. The communities also came out in protest supporting the workers on strike. Four workers who went back to work were killed. Others who broke the strike were stripped naked by the strikers. They were humiliated in front of the community. The NUM and Cosatu, together with the ANC tried to convince the workers to return to work, but couldn’t control the workers. Even the paramount chief, Molotlhegi, together with the Rustenburg mayor, Mpho Khonou, were stoned by the strikers.

Impala agreed to re-employ 15 000 workers. 2260 were left out, on the pretext that the strike had resulted in such loss of production that the company could no longer operate as before. In reality, it was those workers who were seen as having started the strike who were left out. Workers were selected for re-employment by the NUM together with management, through the NUM calling a meeting promising reinstatement for all workers. Instead of reinstatement, Impala re-employed the workers, which meant that the workers’ previous years of service, with all the benefits accumulated, were erased.

The Impala strike was sparked by the wage increase which had been agreed by NUM and management which discriminates other workers who are doing the same job. So who is going to represent the workers if our own unions share the mission and vision of the capitalists? Our unions are now money-making schemes which are selling the rights of workers to the capitalists to fill their own coffers.

Recently at Samancor, the NUM also made a deal with management to end a strike without the support of the workers. The union leaders did not even report back to the workers. In the end it was management which came to the workers telling them that they had reached an agreement with the union. The bosses even advised the workers to consider finding another union that would not sell them out!

The Murray & Roberts struggle

On August 19, 2009, we Murray and Roberts workers were told by our NUM shop stewards that we would go on strike, that we had a certificate. On the 23rd, a Sunday, the shop stewards together with the NUM chief negotiator came to us saying they had not yet gotten anywhere with the company and that the company was asking for us to suspend the strike so that they could continue negotiating. We asked them if we had a certificate. They said yes, there was a certificate to strike. We said that we wanted to continue with the strike. They said they would go back to continue the talks on Monday. Then they started telling us that there was a problem with the certificate; that it had not been signed by the commissioner etc. They were refusing to show us the certificate, coming with excuses. We got a comrade to check on the internet and we found that there was a valid certificate. That’s when we clashed with our shop stewards. During this whole process no one from the national executive council came to explain the situation. It was just us and the shop stewards. On the 25th we elected our own strike committee. We sent the strike committee to the company but they were not prepared to talk to us. That’s when we started to strike. We marched to the NUM office. We demanded our NUM flag. They refused to give it to us. Our shop stewards came to address us and told us that they had already signed. The workers chased the shop stewards away. That’s when we realised that the NUM is not really working for us. The strike was declared illegal on the 25th. We were 4900 who were dismissed. We were told to go back to work. When we went some were accepted back, others were rejected. Those who were not allowed back were told “you are the major cause of the strike”. It was our own shop stewards who were selecting who would be allowed back to work. If you had spoken in a meeting and so on, they targeted you.

We approached the NUM for assistance. There was only one of the provincial officials, Manenze, who was prepared to try to help us. He said he would talk to management. We were staying in tents in Matebeleng, and we trusted him because he was staying there with us. He referred a case to the CCMA. The case went to Labour Court. NUM promised us that we would all be taken back to work, 200 of us at the time. But after that, cde Manenze never came back to us.

Now, in 2012, the case is eventually going for trial, but the NUM has abandoned it and so has the union we joined after the strike, MEWUSA. Only Cosawu remains to represent the workers against Murray and Roberts.

We tried by all means to talk to our previous leaders about this case but we were getting nowhere. They called us criminals, saying that we were “out of control”. We approached Cosatu in the North West, and Solly Phetoe did try to talk to the NUM leaders but eith no results. We even met with Julius Malema. He told us that if we could not agree with the NUM there was nothing he could do because the NUM was affiliated to the ANC. We tried everything, we went to the councillor, to the local ANC structures. We approached Cosatu at its national congress in September 2009. No one was willing to help us.

The problem with the NUM is that they are not really representing the workers. Most of the shop stewards are trying to befriend management, looking out for their own benefits. The NUM’s provident fund owns shares in the mines in Rustenburg, including in Murray and Roberts. A raise for us is coming out of their own coffers.

The NUM takes you out on strike, but at the end you don’t get even half of what you wanted, as seen recently at Samancor. You just get more promises.

The MEWUSA leadership has taken that union down the same road - without any alternative to the capitalist order, they prefer working hand-in-hand with the bosses over leading our struggles, and for this reason they also suppress union democracy and worker control.

South Africa, we are going nowhere under the so-called Tripartite Alliance of the ANC. Cosatu and ANC leaders meet but are still divided among themselves. To mention one example: the case against ANC councillor Wolmarans who is the speaker of the ANC in Rustenburg local municipality and its former mayor. He is accused of ordering the assassination of Moss Phakoe, another ANC councillor and Cosatu leader who was shot dead in 2009 after exposing corruption.

The divisions in Cosatu are also clear as workers in most of the mines in Rustenburg, including for example Samancor, Murray and Roberts, Xstrata and Impala, did not support the general strike on March 7. On Cosatu’s side, there was no mobilisation; no pamphlets, no posters. But the real reason workers did not participate is that they don’t trust their union anymore.

The problem facing mine workers is that we are being exploited both by our unions and the employer. We as the ex-employees of Murray and Roberts were lucky and because we were helped by the DSM. That’s why our case is proceeding in Labour Court. What the workers really need now to have a way forward is to build a new better union that will really fight.

Viva Izwi labasebenzi viva!

Mine Line: aluta continua

Written by Sipho Linda, Mine Line Worker Cooperative Secretary Wednesday, 02 May 2012 10:24

By Sipho B Linda

Mine Line Worker Cooperative Secretary

The Mine Line struggle is a story of workers who refused to go down without a fight. As workers, armed with a fighting strategy and a disciplined programme, we aim to achieve what the major labour organisations in this country have failed to do: to put forward an alternative to the thousands if not millions of job losses of the past years, and of many years to come since the economic crisis seems set to escalate under the system of capitalism.

The whole saga began in August 2010, on the West Rand near Doornkop mine. A few weeks after the liquidation of Mine Line and TAP Engineering (see Izwi labasebenzi May-July 2011), workers became aware that the former owner Wynand Mulder was colluding with Commonwealth Trust, the liquidator company, to start stripping the machines and other assets of the factory. To stop this we resolved, on October 20, 2010, on occupying the factory and started doing so on the same day. We changed the locks and guarded the factory day and night, with the assistance of comrades of the solidarity committee, especially the Landless People’s Movement. We used the occupation to demand accountability of the liquidators, to ask the banks that were owed by the former owner not to claim the money back, and to demand that the state should nationalise the factory under the control of our worker cooperative. This is where the matter was brought to the attention of the state’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). We appealed to the IDC for funding to resuscitate the company and resume production of valves and locomotives to supply the mining industry. Since then the IDC has been actively involved; but of course with a double face – one side showing willingness to assist but the other coming up with complicated technical obstacles calculated to exhaust and defeat the Mine Line struggle. The IDC convinced workers to vacate the factory and allow an auction of the assets to take place in May 2011 against a promise of the IDC buying the assets on behalf of the cooperative. However the auction went ahead with the assets being snatched by other buyers, probably a front for the previous owner. Another obstacle has been the IDC’s insistence that their funding must be based on a business plan that proves the viability of the market. Putting together such a business plan requires a lot of costly research and contacts in the mining industry, involving resources we do not have as workers. But through pressure of disciplined mass action of the workers we have managed to compel the IDC to keep coming to the party, in doing so also honouring its mandate of rescuing collapsing businesses and creating new jobs, which is the official policy of government.

The assistance which the IDC has provided as a result of these engagements include paying for a consultant tasked with compiling a business plan on behalf of the cooperative. However, the application for funding based on this plan was rejected by the IDC in December 2011 on the basis that it did not have enough letters of intent to do business. Once again the tension between the IDC and workers boiled up because IDC again demanded that the workers must secure more letters of intent on their own. We responded the same way: we lack resources and capacity.

We then mobilised, this time supported by comrades of the struggle against Murray and Roberts, to go and demonstrate at the IDC offices. This action got a quick and positive response from IDC, which agreed to fund another consultant to be appointed to deal precisely with the challenge of securing more letters of intent.

Workers remain organised while working closely with this consultant. As long as the struggle of Mine Line enjoys the support of different social movements and individual activists victory is certain. We appreciate the support of the DLF, OKM, TCC, LPM, and COPAC which organised the workers into a cooperative, and last but not least the DSM and Cosawu who have made sure that the struggle is alive and moving forward on daily basis.

A successful struggle is about two things: organisation and a fighting strategy. If you are organised but without a fighting strategy, you will suffer a defeat. If you have a strategy but are not organised, you will still suffer defeat that will compel you to capitulate.

If you don’t have either, join the union and fight to win.

Phambili ngomzabalazo wabasebenzi phambili!

Mine Line: phambili nomzabalazo!

Written by Sipho Linda Wednesday, 02 May 2012 10:20

nguSipho B Linda, unobhala weMine Line Worker Cooperative

Umzabalazo waseMine Line yindaba yabasebenzi abangeke bayephansi ngaphandle kokulwa. Singabasebenzi abahlome ngamasu okulwa kanye nohlelo, sizimisele ukuthola izinto ezinye izinhlangano zabasebenzi eziqavile ezweni ezingazange zikuthole: ukunikeza  icebo elihlukile mayelana nokwakhiwa kwemisebenzi eyizinkulungwane eyaphela eminyakeni eyedlule, futhi neminyaka ezayo njengoba kucaca ukuthi umnotho uzoqhubeka nokucikizela ngaphansi kombuso wobungxowankulu.

Konke kwaqala ngoAugust 2010 eNtshonalanga Randi ngase mayini yaseDoornkop. Emuva kancane kokungabi nemali kwenkampani iMine Line and TAP Engineering (bona Izwi labasebenzi May-July 2011), abasebenzi bathola ukuthi umqashi wakudala uWynand Mulder wayexhumene ngenkohlakalo neCommonwealth Trust, okuyinkampane ebhekelene nokungabikhona kwemali enkampanini, yaqala ukukhipha imishini kanye nempahla yasembonini. Ukuze lolukhondolo lumiswe, sathatha isinqumo sokuhlala ngenkani embonini ngoOctober 20, 2010. Sashintsha izikhiye futhi sagada inkampani imini nobusuku ngosizo lwamaqabane eSolidarity Committee, kakhulukazi iLandless People’s Movement. Sasebenzisa ithuba lokuhlala ngenkani enkampanini ukuthi sifune incazelo kulabo ababhekelene nokungabikhona kwemali eMine Line and TAP Engineering, sacela amabhange ayekweletwa wumnini wenkampani  ukuthi angafuni ukubuyelwa yimali yawo, saphinde satshela umbuso ukuthi kufanele imboni ibengaphansi komfelandawonye wabasebenzi. Yilapho loludaba lwahanjiswa kwi-Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) okuyinhlangane kaHulumeni. Sacela uxhasomali kwi-IDC ukuze siqale kabusha inkampani futhi siqale ukwakha ama valivu kanye nezitimela ukuze sizokhiqizela izimboni zezimayini. Kusukela lapho i-IDC ibiyingxenye; kepha inobuso obumbaxambili- engxenyeni eyodwa ikhombise ukufuna ukusiza kodwa kwenye ingxenye ifuna izinto eziningi ezihlose ukuthi umzabalazo wase Mine Line ukhathale futhi wehlulwe. I-IDC yazama ukungcenga abasebenzi ukuthi baphume embonini ukuze inkampani ifakwe endalini ngo May 2011 yize i-IDC yayithembisile ukuthenga imishini eshodayo ukuze umfelandawonye uqhubeke nomkhiqizo. Indali yaqhubeka, abanye bathenga imishini okusolakala ukuthi babethengela umqashi osikhathi sakhe sesadlula. Enye ingqinamba wukuthi i-IDC yayifuna kwenziwe umqulu onepulani yebhizinisi okhombisa ukuthi umkhiqizo uzothengwa ezimakethe. Ukuhlanganisa umqulu onjalo udinga imali eningi yocwaningo kanye nokuthola abantu abasebenza embonini yezimayini, konke lokhu kudinga imali esingenayo thina basebenzi. Kodwa ngenxa yomzabalazo wabasebenzi ohlelekile, sakwazi ukuphoqa i-IDC ukuthi iqhubeke nokuzimbandakanya naloluhlelo. Ngokwenza njalo yayizokwazi nokuphumelelisa umyalelo wokusiza ibhizinisi elalilengela eweni futhi kwakheke namathuba emisebenzi, okuwumsebenzi osemthethweni kaHulumeni.

Ngenxa yalokhukuxoxisana, i-IDC isinikezele ngemali yokukhokhela uchwepheshe ozobhala umqulu wepulani yebhizinisi elizoyenzela umfelandawonye. Nomakunjalo isicelo semali esafakwa ngalo somqulu asiphumelelanga ngenxa yokuthi zazingekho izincwadi ezanele ezikhombisa ubukhona kwemakethe. Kwaphinde kwabanenkinga ngesikhathi i-IDC ithi abasebenzi kufanele bayothola ezinye izincwadi. Saphendula ngendlela eyodwa: ayikho imali nabantu abangakwazi ukwenza lomsebenzi.

Saqoqana, manje sesisekwa abasebenzi beCosawu, sahamba sayobhikisha emahhovisi e-IDC. Leligxathu lenza kusheshe ukutholakala kwempendulo kwi-IDC eyayinomqondo wokuya phambili, lapho yavuma ukukhokhela omunye uchwepheshe ukuthi athole izincwadi lezo.

Abasebenzi basandawonye ngalesisikhathi besebenza nochwepheshe. Uma umzabalazo wase Mine Line uqhubeka uthola ukwesekwa yizinhlangano zomzabalazo namashanhliziyo, ukunqoba kusemome. Siyakujabulela ukwesekwa yi-DLF, OKM, TCC, LPM neCOPAC abasiza ngokwakha umfelandawonye, okokugcina i-DSM ne Cosawu abaqinisekisa ukuthi umzabalazo uyaphambili usuku- nosuku.

Umzabalazo ophumelelayo unezinto ezimbili: inhlangano necebo lokulwa. Uma unenhlangano kodwa ungenalo icebo lokulwa, kuyoba nokuhlulwa. Uma unecebo kodwa inhlangano ingekho, uzoqhubeka wehlulwe bese uphoqeleleka ukuhoxa.

Phambili ngomzabalazo wabasebenzi phambili!