{"id":244,"date":"2019-08-27T08:48:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T06:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=244"},"modified":"2021-01-11T15:32:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T13:32:46","slug":"marikana-and-the-2012-mineworkers-strikes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=244","title":{"rendered":"Marikana and the 2012 Mineworkers’ Strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published as <\/em>After Marikana in November 2013 by the Democratic Socialist Movement, a forerunner of the Marxist Workers Party.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
  • Build a democratic fighting worker-led AMCU<\/strong><\/li>
  • Struggle for a R12 500 monthly minimum wage<\/strong><\/li>
  • Nationalise the mines under workers\u2019 control and management<\/strong><\/li>
  • Learn the lessons of Marikana<\/strong><\/li>
  • Support the Workers and Socialist Party<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The Marikana\nmassacre was a watershed. The murder of 34 mineworkers drew a line in the sand\ndividing the post-apartheid era into two. Marikana illuminated with blinding\nclarity all the accumulated political and social contradictions in the country.\nThe massacre led millions to the realisation that the ANC and their Tripartite\nAlliance partners \u2013 the National Union of Mineworkers leadership, the\npro-capitalist Cosatu leaders and the South African Communist Party (SACP) \u2013\ngovern in the interests of the mine bosses and the capitalist class. For them,\nprofits are more important than the lives of workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even the\ntoothless Farlam Commission \u2013 set up by the murderers themselves to try and\ngloss over what Marikana represented \u2013 cannot hide the truth: the massacre was\npremeditated. Without the collusion of the ANC government, the mine bosses and\nthe leadership of NUM, Marikana could not have happened. The mineworkers\u2019\nrejection of NUM and the organisation of independent rank-and-file strike committees\nto lead the 2012 strikes was simultaneously the greatest threat to the mine\nbosses and the greatest achievement of the mineworkers. With the workers\u2019\nrejection of NUM a pillar of the post-1994 capitalist order crumbled. \nMineworkers emerged from the NUM\u2019s prison of class collaboration and reasserted\ntheir class and political independence. Thus Marikana was an attempt to drown\nin blood the struggles of the mineworkers, clip the wings of their new found\nclass independence and teach the entire working class a brutal lesson not to\nchallenge the existing order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the ruling\nclass has not succeeded. The processes that led to the explosion of workers\u2019\nstruggle in the mining industry in 2012 are too deep-seated and profound. The\nmineworkers have suffered brutal exploitation over many years. South Africa is\ncharacterised by massive inequality of wealth. The grinding poverty of the\nmajority exists next to the lavish wealth of the minority. A steady increase in\nstruggle over recent years in strikes, service delivery protests and the\nstruggles of the youth has culminated in the ebbing away of support for the ANC\nand its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All this taken\ntogether meant that Marikana in fact accelerated the process its perpetrators\nintended to halt. As marks the dawn of any new era, the working class is of\nnecessity going through a process of ideological and political clarification\nand organisational realignment. The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) is\nwriting this pamphlet to help arm mineworkers with the ideas and strategy\nnecessary for the new era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the most\nimportant new features in the day-to-day life and struggles of the mineworkers\nis the emergence of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union\n(AMCU) as the majority union in the platinum sector and in the major gold\nproducers in Gauteng. It was the action of the mineworkers in 2012, led by the\nworkers\u2019 own strike committees that elevated AMCU to this position. Following\nthe abandonment of NUM, mineworkers looked for another union and found AMCU\nready-made and waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The DSM welcomed the mineworkers breaking free from\nthe prison of NUM. AMCU\u2019s replacement of NUM as the majority union across so\nmuch of the mining sector is potentially an improvement on the previous\nsituation where NUM enjoyed unchallenged domination and betrayed the workers by\nactively colluding with the bosses.<\/strong> But\nultimately, the DSM\u2019s loyalty is to the interests of the mineworkers and the\nworking class as a whole. It is our loyalty to that cause that we seek to\nadvance by writing this pamphlet. The DSM sincerely hopes that AMCU can become\nthe union worthy of inheriting the traditions of the mineworkers\u2019 struggles of\nlast year and prepare them for the struggles that loom ahead in the mining\nindustry and South Africa as a whole. But AMCU still has some distance to\ntravel to claim that mantle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The background\nto the class struggle in the South African mining sector is the continuing\nworld crisis of capitalism, now more than five years old. The mining industry\nin South Africa is beholden to the capitalist world market. The zigzags of the\ncrisis have led to a corresponding zigzag in the world price of gold and\nplatinum in particular and therefore the profits of the mining bosses. Under\nthe pressure of the relentless greed of the shareholders demanding their\nregular pay-outs \u2013 or dividends \u2013 the mine bosses are preparing to make workers\npay for the crisis of the capitalist system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The mine bosses\nand the capitalist class are crystal clear on the strategy they need to pursue.\nEver since the 2012 strikes ended the mine bosses have been waging a relentless\ncampaign to reassert their control. Many of the strike committee leaders have\nbeen dismissed or imprisoned, attempts are on-going to corrupt AMCU, and mass\nretrenchments have been used to try and demoralise, fragment and disunite the\nmineworkers. The 20,000 retrenchments already enacted this year \u2013 at Amplats,\nSteelport and elsewhere \u2013 are merely the first salvo in plans to retrench up to\n200 000 mineworkers over the next five years as revealed in the leaked\ndocuments of the mine bosses themselves. So far AMCU\u2019s strategy has not\nprevented retrenchments from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The mine bosses\ncontinue to use the rump of NUM as a treacherous fifth column in the ranks of\nthe mineworkers. The violence in Rustenburg attributed to so-called \u2018union\nrivalry\u2019 is hyped up by the media \u2013 in particular the murder of NUM officials\nor former NUM officials. DSM condemns this violence and extends its sympathies\nto the families of those murdered. Such violence only strengthens the enemies\nof the mineworkers \u2013 it gives the state forces the excuse to increase the\nrepression of the mineworkers; it allows NUM to be portrayed as the \u2018victims\u2019\nand the \u2018moderate\u2019 and \u2018reasonable\u2019 voice of the mineworkers; and it allows the\nNUM leader\u2019s allies in the ANC and SACP to portray the mineworkers as mindless\nthugs whose grievances and demands are illegitimate and should therefore be\nignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While it is not\nthe most likely scenario, it cannot be excluded that this campaign of violence\nis being orchestrated by forces wishing to discredit AMCU in order to undermine\nthe struggles and strength of the mineworkers. We must not forget the lessons\nof how the \u2018third force\u2019 was used to try and create a pretext for a clampdown\non the liberation struggle in the early 1990s during the dying days of\napartheid. The DSM is calling for a worker-led enquiry made up of rank-and-file\nmineworkers from all sectors and unions elected by the mineworkers themselves\nto investigate the violence in Rustenburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the platinum\nsector in particular \u2013 where AMCU has its main base \u2013 the mine bosses are\npreparing for a decisive showdown. Already, several shafts have been closed and\nthousands of workers retrenched. It has also been reported that the major\nplatinum producers have stockpiled up to six weeks of platinum and that the\ninventories at major factories and traders have stockpiles of up to 1,000 days.\nThe mine bosses will be prepared to starve the workers back to work. The\nserious preparations on the side of the class enemy require an equally serious\npreparation on our side \u2013 the side of the mineworkers and the working class as\na whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the situation\nfacing the mineworkers, \u2018business as usual\u2019 will simply not do. The AMCU\nleadership cannot take it for granted that mineworkers will remain blindly\nloyal to them if they let the workers down. Whilst it is correct for the AMCU\nleadership to raise the demand for a monthly minimum wage of R12 500 \u2013 the key\ndemand of the 2012 strikes \u2013 they have yet to organise a serious struggle to\nwin it. As we will go on to explain, this failure finds its origin in the\nmistaken position of the AMCU leadership on a number of key questions that are\nultimately caused by the leadership\u2019s failure to fully recognise what Marikana\nrepresented and the deeper social and political processes that elevated AMCU\ninto its new position. Flowing from this, AMCU has not yet been placed on the solid foundations of socialism \u2013\nthe ultimate expression of working class interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mineworkers need\nto press on with their struggle to forge an organisation and leadership worthy\nof them. Mineworkers must struggle to ensure AMCU is the organisation they\nwant, and need, it to be. In writing this pamphlet, we aim to help AMCU\u2019s new\nmembers \u2013 the most heroic, combative and class conscious sections of the\nmineworkers \u2013 to try and turn AMCU into a mighty, democratic and\nworker-controlled union that stands for struggle, solidarity and socialism.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The role of the DSM in the struggles of the mineworkers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The DSM was\npresent in the platinum belt long before the Marikana massacre, contrary to\nwhat some uninformed commentators say. We recognised that the \u2018love-triangle\u2019\nbetween the mine bosses, the ANC government and the NUM leadership was pushing\nthe mineworkers ahead of most workers into facing up to the betrayals of their\nleaders. The use of super-exploitative labour brokers and contractors was\nfuelled by the mine bosses\u2019 hunger for mega-profits and the politicians\u2019 (many\nof them ex-trade unionists) thirst for tenders and BEE deals. Workers were left\nto survive on starvation wages abandoned by the union leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Establishing a base with the Murray & Roberts\nworkers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In 2009 the DSM\nmet a group of more than 4000 workers from Aquarius Platinum\u2019s Kroondal shafts\nwhich were then managed by Murray & Roberts (M&R). These workers had\nbeen dismissed after a wage strike in August 2009 after NUM first obtained a\nstrike certificate, then cut a deal with management behind the workers\u2019 backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When the M&R\nworkers asked us for assistance they were in a weak position having already\nbeen dismissed from work, removed from the workplace and abandoned and\ncondemned by NUM. They had no jobs to return to. We agreed to help them fight\nback despite the bleak situation. We explained that whilst we could not deliver\nany instant solution to their dismissal we would assist them in fighting a\nlegal case and arm them with a socialist programme and analysis that would help\nthem draw out the lessons of their betrayal by NUM for future struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We were able to\npush the M&R workers dismissal case through the Labour Court under the\nbanner of the Metal and Electrical Workers Union of South Africa (MEWUSA). At\nthe time we had a comrade working as an official for that union and a base\namongst its members. We explained that the Labour Court is hostile territory\nfor workers so if there was to be any chance of success for their case it would\ndepend on the workers remaining united and organised. The M&R workers had\nalready elected a strike committee and continued to hold weekly mass meetings.\nThe workers, many of them strike committee members, had concluded that they\nneeded to get organised not only for their fight for justice against M&R\nbut also to put an end to capitalism. They joined DSM and founded our first\nmineworkers\u2019 branch at Kroondal in Rustenburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Local branches\nare the building blocks of DSM. They meet every week as a political school and\nto discuss and plan the next steps in all the struggles we are engaged in.\nComrades of the Kroondal branch together with comrades based at the DSM\u2019s\nnational office in Johannesburg took part in and supported the struggles around\nRustenburg in the following years including the Lonmin workers when they went\non strike at the Karee shafts in 2011, and the Impala workers who took strike\naction in January 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The exodus from NUM and the rise of AMCU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The M&R\nworkers had come to see the NUM leadership for what it was \u2013 the extended arm\nof the mining bosses\u2019 HR departments. This was before most  mineworkers\ndrew this conclusion. When discussing with workers at other shafts and\ncompanies who had not yet had the same experience as the M&R workers, we\nwere patient yet firm in pointing to the NUM leadership\u2019s weaknesses. Although\nDSM\u2019s perspective was that the rot of class collaboration and corruption had\ngrown so deep-rooted within the NUM that the union was likely beyond rescue, at\nthat stage we encouraged those workers who were still inside NUM to organise to\nreclaim the union as a worker-controlled, fighting socialist union whilst\nwarning that developments pointed relentlessly to the likelihood of workers\nmoving out of NUM in search of a fighting alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When the Impala\nstrike in early 2012 ended with victory for the workers (see next section) the\nidea of moving into AMCU as a viable mass alternative to NUM spread across the\nRustenburg shafts. DSM recognised that the changed situation necessitated\nabandoning the dual position described above. Instead we began to encourage\nworkers to protect their unity by moving as one into AMCU. This was not because\nwe saw AMCU as a \u2018perfect\u2019 union, but because we recognised the urgent need to\npreserve the unity of the mineworkers \u2013 the very basis for working class\nstruggle \u2013 which was beginning to fragment as the exodus from NUM to AMCU\npicked up pace. DSM never gave an\nunqualified endorsement to mineworkers to join AMCU. We always raised the\nfollowing warning: AMCU is untested and if you join it you must campaign to\nensure that AMCU becomes the union it needs to be in order to defend\nmineworkers and advance their interests in the struggles that lie ahead.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Marikana unites Rustenburg in action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In August 2012\nwhen the strike at Lonmin for a R12 500 monthly minimum wage started the DSM\nnaturally supported it. The Marikana massacre changed the situation decisively.\nImmediately after the Marikana massacre, we put out a pamphlet calling for\nworkers to respond by shutting down all Rustenburg shafts in a local general\nstrike. We used DSM\u2019s developing network of members and contacts branching out\nfrom the M&R workers to travel across the mines linking up workers in the\ndifferent companies and shafts. In several companies, such as Amplats and\nSamancor, independent strike committees had already been formed by the workers\nlong before the massacre. In others, such as Royal Bafokeng, workers reacted to\nthe massacre by laying down tools and electing a strike committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After weeks of\npatient work and the undented determination of the mineworkers, the possibility\nof calling a coordinated strike across all Rustenburg\u2019s mines was becoming very\nreal. Amplats, the world\u2019s biggest platinum producer with more than 50 000 workers\nin its North West and Rustenburg shafts, was crucial. The Amplats strike\ncommittee agreed that they must give a lead by starting their strike earlier\nthan others. From the platform of the Amplats strike a meeting with\nrepresentatives of the strike committees of Lonmin, Amplats, Samancor and\nAquarius, together with the DSM and representatives of a Marikana youth group\nwas called for September 11, 2012. This meeting founded the Rustenburg Joint\nCoordinating Strike Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Rustenburg\nJoint Coordinating Strike Committee agreed to organise a coordinated strike for\nThursday September 13. In response to the joint strike call, even those\ncompanies where the DSM had not yet built a base, such as Xstrata, shut down\nfor a few days. In many cases management ordered the shut-downs fearful of the\nmineworkers\u2019 militancy. For a few days mid-September, nearly the whole of\nRustenburg\u2019s mining industry was closed down. This was the worst nightmare of\nthe mining bosses and the government \u2013 \u2018contagion\u2019, as they called it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The government\ndecided to respond with both carrot and stick. On the one hand, pressure was\nbrought to bear on the Lonmin management to put something on the table for the\nworkers. This represented a complete U-turn on the part of management under the\npressure of the strike. Up until the coordinated strike, management had\ndismissed some 20 000+ workers, threatened others with dismissal and refused to\nspeak to the strike committees. Unfortunately, despite Impala Platinum\nrepresentatives participating in the meeting that decided to embark upon the\nstrike Impala did not take part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From the\ngovernment\u2019s side, a state of emergency in all but name was enforced by\nPresident Zuma and a wave of repression was unleashed particularly on the\nLonmin workers. The police and army invaded the shacks and hostels at Nkaneng\nand Wonderkop, confiscating \u2018illegal weapons\u2019, arresting \u2018suspects\u2019,\nindiscriminately shooting rubber bullets and firing tear gas. This brutal\napproach was calculated to isolate the Lonmin workers from the other striking\nworkers. Management had some success in pulling the Lonmin worker\u2019s leaders\naway from the Rustenburg strike coomittee for a period, nevertheless talks led\nto the agreement of 11-22% wage increases at Lonmin. In the eyes of mineworkers\neverywhere this confirmed that workers could win concessions with struggle. The\nmining bosses and the government had miscalculated and instead of putting out\nthe fire they had thrown oil on the flames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Birth of the National Strike Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    By now the DSM\nwas receiving calls from mineworkers from across the country who were joining\nthe strike and seeking unity and advice. To maximise the strength of the strike\nbeginning to encompass the entire mining industry, well beyond Rustenburg, DSM\ntravelled across the mines of the North West, Limpopo and Gauteng to try and\nlink workers up. This became the basis for the National Strike Committee, which\nwas formed on October 13 2012 at a meeting in Marikana. More than 120\nrepresentatives attended representing over 150 000 mineworkers organised in\nindependent committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The government\nwas so alarmed that they multiplied their efforts to infiltrate and divide the\nworkers. Crazy rumours began circulating (as they still do today) about the\nDSM. NUM blamed the DSM for murdering its shop stewards and the South African\nCommunist Party (SACP) implied that the DSM were \u2018counter-revolutionaries\u2019 who\nshould be \u2018gotten rid of\u2019. This reactionary campaign had a certain impact on\nthe unity and functioning of the National Strike Committee. Nevertheless, the\ncoming together of the independent strike committees first in Rustenburg and\nthen across provinces and sectors made an enormous contribution to the strike\nmovement following Marikana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The determined\nstrike action resulted in the historic victory of the Lonmin workers under the\nleadership of their own strike committee. The punitive dismissal of 12 000\nAmplats workers was defeated. Workers across platinum and gold won \u2018allowances\u2019\nto compensate for lost income during the strikes. The joint strike committee\nsaw the mineworkers re-establish their class independence by providing the\nbridge for breaking out of the NUM \u2018prison\u2019 of class collaboration and\nbetrayals. The scale of the victories on the basis of the formidable unity of\nthe mineworkers through the Rustenburg and National strike committees was\nunlike anything in the past twenty years. The key difference in this situation compared to the isolated struggles\nof the past was the presence of a revolutionary Marxist party in the form of\nthe DSM, who in the course of the struggle, recruited the flower of the\nmineworkers\u2019 leaders and armed them with the ideas and strategy necessary to\nwage their struggle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the\nmineworkers drew far more wide-reaching conclusions about the nature of society\nin the course of the 2012 strikes. In rejecting NUM the mineworkers were\nsimultaneously rejecting the ANC. But the mineworkers were not prepared to\nleave a political vacuum. At mass meeting after mass meeting, when the DSM put\nforward the idea of building a new mass party of the working class the idea was\napplauded and the mineworkers took the demand up as their own. It was from the\n2012 strikes that the road was embarked upon that led to the formation of the\nWorkers and Socialist Party in December 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    AMCU denounced<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The DSM\ndissociated itself from the reactionary denunciations, led by the\nSACP,   of AMCU as a vigilante union. This was in fact a denunciation\nof the workers who, after years of betrayals by the NUM, decided to take the\nleadership of their struggles into their own hands through the formation of the\nindependent strike committees. AMCU did not lead the uprisings that swept\nacross the mines in the latter half of 2012. AMCU merely inherited the\nmembership of the NUM against which the workers had rebelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The SACP\u2019s\ncharacterisation of AMCU is a perfect illustration of how an incorrect\nappraisal of a political process and an incorrect analysis of a political\nphenomenon can lead to entirely reactionary consequences. Marching to the\ndrumbeat of the SACP leadership, the pro-capitalist Cosatu leaders initiated a\ncampaign to \u201creclaim Rustenburg from the hands of the counter-revolution\u201d. This\ncould only mean the DSM and the independent strike committees. This\ncampaign  had the potential to lead to worker-on-worker violence. In\neffect the SACP leadership attempted to supplement the aims of the\nstate-organised Marikana massacre \u2013 to break the solidarity, combativeness and\nindependence of the workers \u2013 and through the \u201dhands off the NUM\u201d\ncampaign  send the workers back into the prison of class collaboration.\nThe same NUM leadership  who not only failed to lead the Lonmin strike,\nbut denounced the demand for R12 500 as unrealistic and the workers\u2019 victory as\na \u201cwrong precedent\u201d! This catastrophic policy is one of the most important\ncontributing factors leading to the impending disintegration of Cosatu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The ending of\nthe strike wave of 2012 was not the final word in the struggle of the\nmineworkers. It was the closing of but one chapter that reconfigured the\npolitical landscape and balance of forces in every corner of the mining\nindustry and across South Africa as a whole. The most significant feature of\nthe changed landscape in the mining sector, especially for the day-to-day\nstruggles of the mineworkers is the arrival of AMCU. It is to AMCU that the\nremainder of this pamphlet will now turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Where did AMCU come from? AMCU\u2019s history<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The Association\nof Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) emerged as a split from the NUM in\n1999 in Mpumalanga after an unprotected strike and occupation at the Douglas\nColliery (today part of Besca \u2013 BHP Billiton Energy Coal). 3,000 workers took\naction in solidarity with their sacked NUM branch chairperson, Joseph\nMathunjwa, then a lab-assistant at the colliery and today AMCU\u2019s president. The\naction was successful and Mathunjwa was reinstated. However, under then general\nsecretary Gwede Mantashe (today general secretary of the ANC and amongst those\nwho have blamed DSM for the \u2018anarchy\u2019 in the mining industry), NUM decided to\nexpel Mathunjwa for \u201cbringing the union into disrepute\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In solidarity,\nall 3,000 workers resigned their NUM membership and founded AMCU, registering\nwith the Department of Labour in 2001. AMCU is affiliated to the trade union\nfederation National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu). For more than ten years AMCU was a marginal union in the mining sector\nwinning organising rights in a number of minor mining companies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    AMCU enters Rustenburg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, the\nbasis for changing this was laid in the months and years before Marikana.\nWorkers across the mining sector became increasingly frustrated and angry at\nthe NUM leaders\u2019 ever closer and cosier relationship with mine management. The\nNUM leaders\u2019 betrayals were encouraged through NUM\u2019s alliance with the ruling\npro-capitalist ANC government. A revolving door was developing between an\nincreasingly corrupt NUM leadership, the management boards of the mining\ncompanies and the leadership bodies of the ANC. Workers were beginning to see\nit was impossible to determine where one began and the other ended. It was\nclear NUM was betraying their struggles. This opened up a space for a new union\nto build support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From 2009,\nMEWUSA, under the influence of the DSM, had begun to eat away at NUM support at\nMurray & Roberts and Xstrata in Kroondal. However MEWUSA\u2019s role in the\nmining sector came to an abrupt end in early 2011 when the union split as the\nleadership purged DSM supporters who were fighting to expose corruption within\nthat union. MEWUSA then abandoned efforts to organise mineworkers and collapsed\nin the mines strengthening NUM while NUMSA also began to step into the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    AMCU\u2019s first\ninroad in Rustenburg came in the wake of the strike at Lonmin\u2019s Karee shafts in\nMay 2011. 9000 workers went on an unprotected strike in protest at the\ncollusion between management and the NUM region in overturning the workers\u2019\nre-election of the branch committee. All 9000 workers were dismissed. Most were\neventually re-employed, but a section identified as \u2018instigators\u2019 were left\nout, among them the dismissed shop stewards. One of them was Mawethu Steve, who\nthen introduced AMCU at Karee, and later became AMCU\u2019s first organiser in\nRustenburg. Tragically Steve was assassinated by unknown assailants in May\n2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The strike which\nbroke out at Impala Platinum (Impala) in Rustenburg in January 2012 (seven\nmonths before Marikana) gave AMCU the chance for a decisive breakthrough in membership\nand influence amongst mineworkers in the major mining companies. Impala workers\nembarked on an unprotected strike, initiated by the Rock Drill Operators (RDOs)\nwho were demanding the same bonuses that had been agreed for higher grades. The\nstrike spread across Impala\u2019s 14 shafts as workers came out on strike in\nsolidarity with the RDOs. Management hit back with the dismissal of over 17,000\nworkers in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    AMCU had been\nwaging a low level recruitment campaign at Impala with little success in the\npreceding months. But with the obvious collusion of NUM with the Impala\nmanagement, the workers had had enough. The determined action of the Impala\nRDOs, supported by their comrades in other grades, over 17 weeks, led to a full\nreturn to work and a pay rise for the RDOs. This victory was won by the workers\nat Impala taking matters into their own hands by ejecting the traitorous NUM\nand waging a determined struggle under their own leadership. It was into the\nvacuum created by the Impala workers ejection of NUM that AMCU stepped. AMCU\nrapidly became the majority union. The victory of the Impala workers, led by\nthe RDOs, became the stuff of legend across the platinum belt. The workers\u2019\nglory at Impala was reflected onto AMCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This process was\nrepeated writ-large when the entire mining industry exploded in struggles\ninitiated by the RDOs at Lonmin following in Impala\u2019s footsteps that would\nultimately lead to the Marikana massacre. Workers ejected NUM, set up their own\nstrike committees independent of any union (including AMCU) to lead their\nstruggle. Again, in the vacuum created by NUM\u2019s eviction, AMCU was able to\nrecruit during the course of the strikes, but especially after the strikes ended.<\/strong>
    \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Working class unity: how can R12 000 be won?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Unity is central\nto maximising the strength of the working class and the effectiveness of\nstruggle. The mineworkers demonstrated their understanding of this last year in\nthe way the independent strike committees emerged and linked up. But whilst DSM\nfavours the maximum unity of the working class, we do not favour the \u2018unity of\nthe graveyard\u2019. In other words, there is little point in remaining \u2018united\u2019, if\nthe organisation that we are united in refuses to lead struggle, as was the\ncase in NUM. That is why the exodus\nfrom NUM was a progressive step and one that increased the strength of the\nmineworkers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, large\nnumbers of mineworkers have remained in NUM leaving the mining sector spilt\ninto what all too often appears to be two hostile camps. Whilst there have been\na number of heroic strikes in the mining sector post-Marikana, these have been\nwaged alternately under the banner of AMCU and NUM. The sector-wide unity that\nmade the strikes of last year so powerful \u2013 without NUM or AMCU playing a role\n\u2013 has been absent, making the victories scored smaller than they otherwise\nmight have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This suggests\nthat the rivalry between the union leaderships for members and influence is\nbeing elevated above the interests of the mineworkers and the working class.\nThis is unacceptable to us and it must be unacceptable to AMCU members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    NUM leaders and NUM members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    AMCU\u2019s replacement of NUM as the majority union across\nso much of the mining sector is potentially an improvement on the previous\nsituation where NUM enjoyed unchallenged domination and betrayed the workers by\nactively colluding with the bosses.<\/strong> We should\nadd to this that the primary and undisputed blame for the initial divisions\namongst the mineworkers lies much more with the NUM leadership than the AMCU\nleadership. However, the AMCU leadership could do more to appeal to NUM members\nfor unity in action, thus exposing the NUM leadership and ultimately restore\nthe solidarity and power of the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A crucial\ndistinction that AMCU members need to make is between the NUM leadership<\/strong>, whom DSM condemns as\ntraitors of the working class and amongst those responsible for Marikana, and\nthe NUM membership<\/strong>. We\nunderstand that AMCU members, particularly in the platinum belt and Gauteng\ngoldfields, find it frustrating that not all NUM members have recognised the\ntreacherous role of the NUM leaders and left NUM for AMCU. However, that\nfrustration must be tempered into a desire to expose the NUM leaders in the\neyes of the remaining NUM members and to restore workers\u2019 unity. Not every\nmining area was touched in the same way by last year\u2019s strikes. For example,\nthe workers at the iron ore mines of the Northern Cape, the gold mines of the\nFree State, the coalfields of Witbank and the smaller diamond mines dotted\naround the country have not had the same experiences as the mass of mineworkers\nin the platinum belt and the Gauteng goldfields who have had the treachery of\nthe NUM leadership revealed to them in the starkest possible way. It is the job\nof AMCU members to help the remaining NUM membership come to this conclusion by\njoining forces with them in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But DSM does not\nbelieve this can be done by denouncing the NUM leadership alone, as correct as\nthose denunciations are. AMCU members must extend the hand of friendship and\nsolidarity to NUM members<\/strong> and\nappeal for unity in action. We must rescue the ordinary members of NUM \u2013 our\nbrothers and sisters \u2013 from this mis-leadership. If we succeed in this we will\nbe weakening the enemy within our midst and increasing workers\u2019 strength by\nmaximising workers\u2019 unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The 2013 gold wage strikes: a warning to AMCU members<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately,\nthe AMCU leadership has not clearly recognised that this is the strategy they\nneed to adopt. For example, during the gold sector strikes in September 2013\nfor wage increases, NUM members took strike action but the AMCU leadership\nrefused to call AMCU members out. In fact the AMCU leadership took measures to\nensure that AMCU members did not participate. The AMCU leadership\u2019s stance\nweakened the scale of the victory that could have been won. Because of the\nbargaining structure that exists in the gold sector it was known from the\noutset that AMCU members would end up with the same deal as NUM members whether\nor not they joined the action. It was therefore to the detriment of AMCU\nmembers\u2019 interests for the AMCU leadership not to call AMCU members out\nalongside NUM for a gold sector-wide strike. This would have maximised the\npressure on the gold mining bosses and the chances of extracting the best\npossible wage deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Instead, at a\nmass meeting of AMCU members in the Gauteng gold fields, Mathunjwa denounced\nthe NUM-led strike and wage demands and said AMCU demanded nothing less than a\nR12 500 minimum wage. A vote was held and more than 8000 AMCU workers voted in\nfavour of strike action to back up the R 12 500 demand. Whilst it is to be\napplauded that the AMCU leadership has raised this crucial demand born out of\nlast year\u2019s struggle, to date the AMCU leadership has done nothing to carry out\nthe mandate given to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, the\nonly explanation that we can give for this episode is that out of nothing more\nthan union rivalry, the AMCU leadership kept AMCU members out of the fight.\nBelatedly realising the damage this could do to the leadership\u2019s militant\nreputation, or the potential for AMCU members to come out in support of the\nstrike regardless undermining the AMCU leaders, the mass meeting vote and R12\n500 demand was a crude attempt to appear more radical than NUM. This\nexplanation is strengthened when it is noted that the AMCU leadership itself\nsettled for a 9% pay deal for AMCU members at Forbes Coal, a nearly identical\ndeal to the 8% deal struck by NUM for the goldfields that AMCU denounced in\nfavour of the R 12 500 demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In effect, the\nidea was sown amongst AMCU members that the NUM strike was too meek and limited\nin its wage demands, should therefore be ignored, and that the real militants\nin the AMCU leadership were going to lead a struggle for the real prize \u2013 a R12\n500 minimum wage. Except that at\nthe time of writing this struggle has not happened.<\/strong> Sadly, the posture\nof the AMCU leadership will have strengthened the hold of the NUM leaders over\nthe remaining NUM members in the goldfields. It was NUM who led a strike and\nNUM members who won concessions on wages from the gold mine bosses. AMCU sounded<\/strong> more radical but in\nreality did nothing<\/strong>. Their\nmisleadership led to a smaller and therefore less damaging strike for the gold\nmine bosses. The wage settlement for all gold mineworkers was correspondingly\nsmaller than might otherwise have been the case if the AMCU leadership led AMCU\nmembers out on strike alongside NUM. What conclusion is there other than that\nthe AMCU leadership elevated rivalry between the AMCU and NUM leaders above the\ncollective interests of the mineworkers? An opportunity to weaken the NUM\nleadership and appeal to NUM members was lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The NUM\nleadership, more ruthless and calculating, played their hand more cleverly when\nAMCU led workers out on strike at Amplats in October 2013 against\nretrenchments. They publically welcomed AMCU\u2019s strike! This was of course\ncalculated to soften their image in the eyes of AMCU members in the hopes of\nwinning them back to NUM rather than out of genuine support for the strike. But\nnevertheless, so far the AMCU leadership has played into the hands of the NUM\nleadership. They have allowed the NUM leaders to portray the AMCU leaders as\nhostile to NUM members<\/strong> rather\nthan the NUM leaders<\/strong>. AMCU\nmembers must not let mistakes by the AMCU leadership allow the NUM leaders \u2013\nthe wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing \u2013 to maintain their sway over any section of\nmineworkers. Their influence must be broken once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    How can the R 12 500 minimum wage be won?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DSM does not want the divisions between AMCU and NUM\nworkers to persist. This would be a grave mistake. The advice we are giving to\nAMCU members is designed to help them re-establish unity by ensuring that the\nsame principles that the independent strike committees were based upon \u2013 the\nunity of all workers in struggle \u2013 are resuscitated even as they build AMCU\nstructures.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We point this\nout as many fantastic rumours can be heard about DSM and the Workers and\nSocialist Party. We heard that AMCU officials have told workers that WASP wants\nthem to go back to NUM. This is rubbish! WASP was founded  by the\nmineworkers who left NUM last year. They are the last people who would advocate\na return to the prison of NUM! The only evidence given for this lie was that\nWASP members wear red t-shirts which is the same colour as NUM\u2019s t-shirts. Red\nis the colour of workers struggle and socialism, the very traditions that NUM\nhas betrayed. We must reclaim that colour from them. (See next chapter for more\ndetails on WASP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DSM is fully behind the R 12 500 minimum wage demand\nand is serious about helping mineworkers to win it.<\/strong> But\nwe must warn that based on the current balance of forces in the mining sector\nand the wider economic and political situation, the R 12 500 minimum wage\ndemand cannot be won by one union alone. It will take a united struggle of all\nmineworkers, in every union, and in every sector, backed-up by the active\nsupport of the wider working class. For the AMCU leadership to suggest\notherwise only delays serious preparation for this necessary struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whilst a minimum\nwage of R12 500 is entirely affordable on the basis of the mine bosses\u2019\nsuper-profits, it would still represent a major concession on their part, and\none they will not make unless forced to as a last resort. It must not be\nforgotten that historically the mining bosses have played the role of the\nvanguard of the capitalist class. The almost unanimous denunciation of the\nsettlement of the Lonmin strike was based on the fear that workers across the\ncountry would be inspired by the evidence that concessions can be won through\nstruggle. But it also went far beyond the issue of wages. The Lonmin settlement\nhad demonstrated that to achieve their aims, workers would have to break\nthrough and if necessary desecrate the holy cow of the collective bargaining\nsystem. This is why the Lonmin bosses have in effect reneged on the increases\nthey offered, declaring them as \u201cwithout legal standing\u201d because they were\nagreed with the independent strike committees, structures for which there is no\nprovision in the Labour Relations Act and the collective bargaining system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even in the face\nof the 2012 strikes and in the wake of international condemnation of the\nMarikana massacre the mine bosses did not concede R12 500. With such high\nstakes, the mining bosses would be willing to weather a prolonged strike by a\nsingle section of the mineworkers. In other words, if AMCU members went out\nalone in an attempt to win the R12 500, the mine bosses would try and starve\nthem back rather than concede. The mine bosses would use the NUM as a\ntreacherous fifth column to divide the workers and sow confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The struggle\nthat will be necessary to win a R12 500 minimum wage requires serious\npreparation something that unfortunately the AMCU leadership seems to be making\nno provision for. A struggle to win R12 500 will require drawing in every\nsection of the mineworkers through a programme of rolling mass action. In the\nfirst instance this means pursuing a strategy to   win over the\nremaining NUM members. It will also require mobilising the mining communities\nand youth in all mining areas in support of the strike. This will require\nlinking the mining communities\u2019 demands around service delivery to the\nmineworkers\u2019 wage demands. The mineworkers will need to call for the formation\nof support groups across the country in all workplaces and working class\ncommunities and call for the working class as a whole to come to their aid in\nnational demonstrations, solidarity strikes and ultimately a general strike to\nforce the mine bosses to concede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Build the Socialist Trade Union Network<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The DSM is\nco-launching the Socialist Trade Union Network (STUN) as an initiative to try\nand build workers unity in action regardless of union membership and political\naffiliation. STUN is aiming to resurrect the traditions of the independent\nstrike committees that made last year\u2019s strikes so powerful. The decision to launch STUN is based on the\nrecognition of a general process taking place in society: the working class is\nin danger of fragmenting as a result of the betrayals of the ANC and their\nAlliance partners the NUM leadership and the pro-capitalist Cosatu leaders. <\/strong>In\nevery sector, workers are leaving Cosatu affiliates. The exodus from NUM to\nAMCU is just the starkest and most high profile example of this general\nprocess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The danger is\nthat without an organised pole to regroup those workers leaving Cosatu\naffiliates that can simultaneously act as a bridge to those workers remaining\nfor now, the capitalist class will be able to utilise the organisational\ndivisions and the corresponding diminishing of the working classes fighting\ncapacity in order to attack. We must not allow them to storm through the breach\nin our defences, but must lead the charge in the regrouping of all workers to\nshore up our defences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This danger is\nnowhere more apparent than in the mining industry, where, as we have outlined\nabove, the divisions between mineworkers in different unions, the continuing\ntreachery of the NUM leadership, and the mistakes of the AMCU leadership on\nthis question, has left workers struggling with one arm tied behind their\nbacks. We call on AMCU members to launch local STUN groups that would allow\nAMCU members to speak directly to rank-and-file NUM members and work with those\nrank-and-file NUM members who genuinely want to advance the interests of all\nmineworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Such an\ninitiative by AMCU members would disarm the NUM leaders and pull the rug from\nunder the feet of corrupt NUM shop stewards. AMCU members would be creating a\nnetwork that would allow them to talk directly to ordinary NUM members without\nthe NUM leader\u2019s treacherous lies sowing confusion and stoking divisions\nbetween workers. Such networks would allow AMCU members to appeal directly for\nthe support of NUM members when they take strike action, and vice versa.\nWorkers would be able to test out directly and independently whether their\nleader\u2019s advice is correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It suits\nself-interested and corrupt leaders \u2013 such as the NUM leaders \u2013 to try and\nerect barriers between workers in order to play divide and rule. We must break\ndown those barriers to build the maximum unity of workers and therefore\nmaximise our fighting capacity. Genuine leaders have nothing to fear from such\nfraternisation. If the AMCU leadership is genuine in its desire to advance the\ninterests of AMCU members and the mineworkers in general they have nothing to\nfear from initiatives such as STUN. In fact AMCU members should demand that the\nAMCU leadership take a lead in establishing networks as the best way of winning\nover NUM members to AMCU and leaving the NUM leadership suspended in mid-air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    STUN networks\nare by definition not limited to a single sector. STUN networks can play the\nrole of uniting mineworkers with fighting unions and other groups of workers\noutside of the mining industry. The wider working class will need to actively\nsupport the mineworkers in their struggle for the R 12,500 minimum wage.\nBuilding such links now is part of the vital preparation that will be necessary\nto wage that struggle on a serious basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the next\nsection we will deal with the necessity for political<\/strong> unity and the need for socialist nationalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The political programme of STUN includes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • For democratic worker\ncontrolled unions. Nothing that affects workers must be done without workers.\nNo meetings between union officials and the bosses without the knowledge and\npresence of workers\u2019 representatives. Wage settlements and when to begin and end\nstrikes must be the democratic decision of workers.<\/li>
    • For unity in struggle. For\nsolidarity with all workers in struggle.<\/li>
    • No to self-enrichment and\nprivileges for leadership. Shop stewards and union officials to earn the same\nwages as workers.<\/li>
    • For nationalisation and\nsocialism on the basis of democratic workers\u2019 control and management.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      The organisational principles of STUN include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Open to all workers who agree\nwith the programme regardless of political and trade union affiliation and all\nworkers structures whether recognised unions, union factions, or independent\nrank-and-file structures. On this STUN exercises extreme flexibility.<\/li>
      • Encourage the establishment of\nworkplace, local, and industry wide networks where there are divisions between\nunions to allow unity to be built in action.<\/li>
      • Without attempting to\nsubstitute itself for the existing federations, the Network aims to overcome\nthe paralysis of Cosatu and the lack of coordination between federations by\nuniting workers in struggle linking up workers to face the onslaught on jobs in\nthe mining industry, e-tolls, labour broking, rising electricity, fuel and food\nprices. As such it will not offer traditional \u2018membership services\u2019, but rather\nact as a political organising centre to take the struggle forward.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        Build a mass workers party on a socialist programme: reject\nthe AMCU leadership\u2019s so-called \u2018apolitical\u2019 position<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        The most\nimportant outcome of the Marikana massacre is the shattering of the 1994\npolitical settlement. As the ANC pursues openly capitalist policies it is\ncoming into sharper and sharper conflict with the working class. The ANC\u2019s\nmanifesto for the 2014 elections \u2013 the National Development Plan \u2013 is a\nneo-liberal document that prioritises the profits of big business over the\nwages, conditions and living standards of the working class. It is this\ncontradiction that lies behind the crisis in Cosatu. Cosatu cannot represent\nthe interests of the working class whilst supporting a government that attacks\nthe working class! To rub salt in the wounds of the mineworkers, the likely\nsuccessor at this stage to Zuma as ANC leader is Cyril Ramaphosa, a former NUM\ngeneral secretary, mine owner and implicated more than any other figure in the\nANC as an architect of the Marikana massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In increasing\nnumbers, workers and communities have been deciding that they will no longer\nsupport the ANC. Understandably over 12 million did not even bother to vote in\nthe last elections. This process was accelerated massively by Marikana. One\nmineworker commented in a TV interview: \u201chow can we support a government that\nshoots us?\u201d Breaking from NUM was simultaneously the breaking of the political\nlink with the ANC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The mineworkers in the course of the struggle last\nyear drew the inevitable conclusion from Marikana: no one speaks for us so we\nneed our own party.<\/strong> The DSM has raised the\nneed for a new mass workers\u2019 party for many years since the betrayals of the\nANC became obvious. In the situation in the mining areas following Marikana,\nwhen this idea was put to mass meetings, the idea was taken up by mineworkers\nas their own. It was from the mineworkers\u2019 recognition of the need for their\nown party from which the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        The Workers and Socialist Party<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        WASP was founded\non December 15 2012 by representatives of six strike committees and the DSM.\nWASP would be a socialist party that expressed the interests of the mineworkers\nand the wider working class. WASP would stand for the nationalisation of the\nmines on the basis of democratic workers control as part of a democratically\nplanned socialist economy (see page 14 for WASP\u2019s Manifesto). Shortly after\nWASP\u2019s founding the National Strike Committee voted unanimously to back WASP as\ntheir party and on March 21 2013 WASP was launched in Tshwane to enormous\nsuccess. Over 500 workers attended including representatives from the National\nStrike Committee and mines in the North West, Gauteng, Northern Cape and\nLimpopo. The mineworkers\u2019 political party \u2013 indeed the party for the entire\nworking class \u2013 had been born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        WASP is the creation of the mineworkers. It was born\nout of the struggles of 2012 and part of the mineworkers\u2019 response to the\ntragedy of Marikana. Why then does the AMCU leadership not support your party?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        What does being \u2018apolitical\u2019 mean in practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The AMCU\nleadership\u2019s position is described by Mathunjwa as \u2018apolitical\u2019. What can this\nmean? The AMCU leadership argues that AMCU members have many different\npolitical affiliations \u2013 some still support the ANC, other tiny minorities\nsupport other small parties \u2013 and it is not AMCU\u2019s place to tell workers who\nthey should give their political allegiance to. In other words the AMCU leadership\nwants to remain \u2018neutral\u2019. History shows us this is impossible. The result of\nthis neutrality will inevitably mean a tacit support for the status-quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        If AMCU stands\naside from trying to change the political landscape of the country \u2013 and indeed\n\u2018takes no position\u2019 on those who are making the attempt, like the DSM and WASP\n\u2013 they are saying that they are either indifferent to, or, at worse support,\nthe monopoly in parliament of anti-working class parties such as the ANC and\nthe DA. That means guaranteeing a future government that is anti-working class\nand pro-capitalist. The \u2018apolitical\u2019 position of the leadership does not\nadvance the interests of AMCU members one millimetre. How can AMCU remain\n\u2018neutral\u2019 in the 2014 national and provincial elections, coming as they do,\nless than two years after the ANC\u2019s betrayal at Marikana? Should the ANC\npoliticians be allowed to remain in place unchallenged to carry out another\nMarikana? Surely, this is not what the AMCU leadership wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        What does Mathunjwa mean by \u2018anti-communist\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        At other times,\nMathunjwa has described AMCU as \u2018anti-communist\u2019. If Mathunjwa is expressing\nopposition to the South African Communist Party (SACP) then that is laudable.\nThe SACP uses the word \u201ccommunist\u201d but stands for capitalism, the complete\nopposite of genuine communism and socialism. DSM however, is worried that what\nMathunjwa is expressing is opposition to the ideas of nationalisation and\nsocialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Socialism is the\ngeneralised expression of working class interests. A socialist society would\nsee the mines, factories, commercial farms, banks and other big businesses\ntaken out of the hands of the capitalist class and brought into democratic\npublic ownership. The economy would be organised on the basis of a democratic\nplan of production under the control of the working class so that society\u2019s\nwealth could be used to satisfy the interests and aspirations of all and not\njust to create profits for a tiny super-rich elite as is the case in today\u2019s\ncapitalist society. Nationalisation is the key first step toward constructing a\nsocialist society. But even before a full socialist society is created,\nnationalisation is in the interests of mineworkers. In fact, it is central to\naddressing all the issues that mineworkers face in their struggles today. It is\nthe bosses and shareholders private ownership and the pursuit of profit over\nall else that leads to retrenchments, poor service delivery and low wages. If\nworkers get more then the bosses get less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        It is necessary\nto take the mines out of private hands to set about genuinely solving the\nproblems that mineworkers and mining communities face. However the demand for\nnationalisation on its own is not enough. It must be linked to the demand for\nworkers\u2019 control and management of the mining industry and be understood as a\nstep toward a socialist society. Otherwise nationalisation can be used as\nwindow-dressing in a predominantly capitalist economy and individual\nnationalised industries will be looted by capitalist governments as is the case\ntoday with the parastatals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        When Amplats\nthreatened 14,000 retrenchments in January 2013 Mathunjwa went to great lengths\nto correct the media reports that he had called for the nationalisation of\nAmplats. Mathunjwa said to the press: \u201cAMCU never called for nationalisation.\u201d\nBut why does Mathunjwa not call for nationalisation? AMCU should be leading calls for nationalisation!<\/strong> We believe\nAMCU members should be campaigning for AMCU to explicitly adopt a position in\nfavour of nationalisation of the mines on the basis of democratic workers\ncontrol as a step toward a democratically planned socialist economy. This\nposition expresses the interests of AMCU members and indeed all mineworkers and\nthe working class as a whole. This brings us back to our first criticism. If the AMCU leadership remains politically\n\u2018neutral\u2019 how will nationalisation policies ever be introduced? AMCU must take\na clear position for nationalisation and align itself with a\npro-nationalisation party.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        How should AMCU make up its mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        There is truth\nto the AMCU leaders\u2019 argument that it is not their place to tell AMCU members\nwho to give their political allegiance to. Yes, the reverse is the case! AMCU members need to tell the AMCU\nleadership which party they want their union to support. <\/strong>We have\nalready argued that the unity of workers in struggle is crucial. But the\nmaximum unity of the working class on the political plane is also the best way\nto collectively advance the interests of the working class. The AMCU leadership\nshould not use the present divided political affiliations of their members as\nan excuse. It is their role to give leadership and attempt to create the\nmaximum political unity amongst their members as possible and support a party\nthat best represents the interests of their members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The DSM argues\nfor AMCU members to join WASP, and ultimately for AMCU to affiliate to\nWASP. WASP was born out of the\nstruggles of the mineworkers: it is your party. WASP has a political programme\nbased on the interests of the working class: socialism.<\/strong> WASP wants its candidates to be mineworkers\nthemselves. <\/strong>But this must be the decision of AMCU members. Is it not\nthe right of AMCU members to decide the political position of their union? And\nis it not the duty of the AMCU leadership to facilitate this decision? AMCU members\nshould petition and pressure the AMCU leadership to organise mass meetings and\nshop stewards councils where WASP leaders can explain why workers should join\nWASP and why AMCU should affiliate. Other political parties should be invited\nif AMCU members demand it. Out of these meetings a vote of all AMCU members\nshould be organised so that a democratic decision can be taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The reality is that without an understanding of the\nalternative to capitalism and the profit motive struggle can only be taken so far.\nIf you accept the logic of capitalism how can you argue against the bosses?\nThat is why it is crucial that AMCU bases itself on the ideas of socialism and\nhas a political answer to the bosses\u2019 lies that they are too \u2018poor\u2019 to do\nanything to improve the mineworkers situation.<\/strong>
        \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        AMCU\u2019s structures: are the members in control of the union?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Workers have\nentered AMCU expecting and demanding an entirely different regime to the one\nthey abandoned in NUM. In rejecting NUM, mineworkers were rejecting the corrupt\nand undemocratic practices of the NUM bureaucracy which was holding back their\nstruggle for better wages and living conditions. Workers were rejecting secret\nnegotiations between NUM officials and the mine bosses. Workers were rejecting\ncorrupt shop stewards whose first loyalty was to the mine bosses rather than\nthe workers. Workers were rejecting NUM\u2019s effective removal from the workers of\nthe decision of when to embark on strike action and the control of industrial\naction. Workers were rejecting the bureaucratised structures that in effect cut\nout the democratic input of members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        All this taken\ntogether made the NUM an ineffective weapon for the waging of struggle, and, in\nreality allowed NUM to become a weapon in the hands of the bosses to be used\nagainst the workers. Correctly the workers dropped this blunted weapon. But in\nAMCU, the workers do not yet have a finished tool for the waging of effective\nstruggle. Repairs, upgrades and modifications would be necessary to transform\nAMCU into the democratic fighting trade union it needs to be to meet the\naspirations of the mineworkers. For a union to be able to genuinely represent\nits members and lead struggle effectively it must be thoroughly democratic and\nhave a structure that allows all members to participate in every aspect of\ndecision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        AMCU\u2019s rapid\ngrowth has undoubtedly left its structures behind. This is understandable and\nto an extent unavoidable. But it is crucial that the AMCU leadership takes\nrapid action to develop its structures to match the demands of the situation\nand the aspirations that mineworkers have invested in AMCU. So far, the AMCU\nleadership has not taken a clear position nor given a clear lead on this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        Possible corruption at Impala: a warning to AMCU\nmembers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In October 2013\nworkers at Impala demanded the suspension of the so-called \u201ctop 10\u201d shop\nstewards. These stewards were appointed<\/strong> by\nthe AMCU leadership rather than elected by the workers in a so-called \u2018interim\u2019\nmeasure. The workers demand for the suspension of the \u201ctop 10\u201d is based on\ntheir alleged financial misdemeanours. Workers are justifiably angered by the\nrevelation that the \u201ctop-10\u201d receive an additional R5 000 from Impala\nmanagement (something Impala management freely admits to) and the accusation\nthat a R100 levy of AMCU members to fund legal costs actually went into the\npockets of the \u201ctop-10\u201d and that they manipulated tenders for kick-backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        At the time of\nwriting, it is unclear whether the \u201ctop 10\u201d have a case to answer. It is also\nunclear how the AMCU leadership intends to deal with the scandal. But\nregardless of the answers to these questions we must point out that the AMCU leadership has helped create the\nsituation whereby the stench of corruption can begin to swirl around the union.<\/strong> AMCU\nhas been present at Impala for more than 18 months and has been recognised by\nImpala management since July 10 2013. At the time of writing, why have four\nmonths passed without the AMCU leadership organising an election for the\nworkers to choose their own shop stewards to replace the \u201ctop-10\u201d appointees?\nThis should have been organised immediately upon recognition by management\nmaking use of the facilities that would have been afforded AMCU by the\nrecognition agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Had this been\ndone this corruption scandal would never have emerged and the damage to AMCU\u2019s\nreputation would not have been inflicted. Further, Impala management claims\nthat the R5 000 additional allowance for shop stewards was part of the deal\nwith NUM when they were the majority union at Impala. From the corrupt NUM this\nmuch we expect! But Impala management allege that the AMCU leadership demanded\nthe same deal when they became the majority union. The AMCU leadership has not\nyet responded to this claim. But whether this is true or not, the stench of\ncorruption could have been prevented by AMCU having adopted a clear code of\nconduct for all elected officials to distinguish them clearly from the corrupt\npractices of the NUM. The AMCU leadership should have been clear from the\noutset: that there should be no privileges attached to taking up any elected\noffice in AMCU. But they did not do\nthis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        Suspicion of the workers independence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In 2012, when\nthe strike wave developed, the independent strike committees that led that\ndispute emerged and leapt over the heads of the AMCU leadership. Rather than\nwelcoming this development as the final break with NUM by the majority of\nmineworkers, the AMCU leadership has displayed at best an ambivalent and at\nworst hostile attitude to the strike committees and the new generation of\nleaders that emerged with them. In fact it was the strike committees themselves\nthat dragged a reluctant AMCU into the struggle kicking and screaming. This is\na bizarre attitude to display given that it was the 2012 strikes and the\ncommittees that allowed AMCU to make its breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        When the strike\ncommittees were at the height of their power and influence and the undisputed\nleaders of the mineworkers the AMCU leadership was forced to tread carefully.\nBut after the strikes ended and as the strike committees succumbed to the\ninevitable pressure towards disintegration posed by the return to work, the\nAMCU leadership began to take a more hostile approach. The AMCU leadership\nstarted to pose the situation in terms of a choice between independent\ncommittees or<\/strong> AMCU rather\nthan seeing the complementary role of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The DSM has\nalways argued for both but Mathunjwa has denounced the independent strike\ncommittees as \u201chyenas in sheep\u2019s clothing\u201d and even called for leaders to be\narrested. The AMCU leadership is revealing itself as hostile to the\nindependence of the rank-and-file \u2013 a position indistinguishable from that of\nthe bosses and the NUM leadership itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        At a January\n2013 national strike committee meeting AMCU officials attempted to have the\nnational strike committee dissolved alleging it \u201cduplicated AMCU structures\u201d\nand was therefore unnecessary. When the chairperson refused to hear the motion\nthis group walked out of the meeting. At other mines, AMCU pressured the strike\ncommittees to convert themselves into AMCU structures. Those strike committee\nleaders who did not go along with this were subsequently marginalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In most cases,\nDSM supported workers joining AMCU but added the warning that AMCU was as yet\nuntested. Unfortunately, this comradely position \u2013 and the only honest one that\ncould be put \u2013 was treated with hostility by the AMCU leadership. DSM members\nhave regularly been treated with suspicion by AMCU officials for our principled\ndefence of the mineworkers\u2019 interests. Unfortunately this suggests that the\nAMCU leadership, with its decade on the margins and its jealously guarded new\nposition, has a suspicious attitude to the independent activity of its members.\nIf this mistaken attitude of the leadership is allowed to develop unchecked by\nAMCU members, AMCU will not be able to develop into the democratic and fighting\nunion it needs to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/div>\n\n\n\n

        How can AMCU\u2019s structures be strengthened?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        AMCU members\nmust be placed firmly in control of all decisions in AMCU. That means democracy\nfrom the shaft level all the way up to the national leadership. It means\nbringing the structures of AMCU closer to the membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Every shaft and\nshift must elect its own worker shop stewards who will form a shop stewards\ncommittee. Every mining operation must have an AMCU branch led by officials\nelected by the members and recallable by the members. If an operation is\nparticularly large there must be more than one branch. Structures must be as\nclose to the ground and as responsive to the rank-and-file as possible.\nRegional structures must be developed in the Rustenburg platinum belt, the\nGauteng goldfields, Witbank and elsewhere with offices staffed by elected\nofficials from the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Shop stewards\nand other officials must receive no privileges for holding office. In\nindustrial disputes mass meetings of the membership must be convened to discuss\nthe dispute and give democratic mandates to the leadership on the direction of\nthe dispute if necessary electing strike committees to work with the leadership\nin running the dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The DSM proposes\nthe following programme for AMCU members to base themselves upon to ensure AMCU\nbecomes a democratic fighting union committed to solidarity, struggle and\nsocialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Democracy & structures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n