{"id":2514,"date":"2021-01-14T13:16:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T11:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=2514"},"modified":"2021-01-19T18:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T16:05:51","slug":"when-ivin-malaza-died","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=2514","title":{"rendered":"When Ivin Malaza Died"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published in Inqaba Ya Basebenzi No.24\/25 (October 1987)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only at BTR and Zincor, but also at a number of other workplaces, leading worker militants have been murdered by Uwusa. Comrade Ivin Malaza, a supporter of the Marxist Workers\u2019 Tendency of the ANC, was one of those killed. A close comrade of Ivin\u2019s spoke to an <\/em>Inqaba correspondent:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw Ivin on the day he died, you know. I said to him \u201cLook here now you be careful coming back from church. Those Uwusa bastards know you go there every week.\u201d He said, \u201cOh yes I\u2019ll be OK. Don\u2019t you worry.\u201d But one guy waited for him. He had been sent by Uwusa. He waited and shot him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was working night-shift so I did not find out he was dead. Then when I finished work I heard he had not been at work in the day so I went looking for him at the hostel near the factory where we work. Then I phoned the police. They said \u201cWe have a body here with union badges on the man\u2019s jacket. Can you come and identify it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I went down to the mortuary and it was Ivin. I could not believe it. He had been shot three times. It was awful I\u2019m telling you. Him, there, dead, and I spoke to him the day before. He lived for the struggle. A lot of people at the factory lost hope when he was killed. We lost a lot of members at first. They were so scared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The factory management are up to their necks in this. We have a young manager now. He is just a kid. He\u2019s thirty-four or thirty-five. He thought he could break the union at the plant. He brought in Uwusa. They are all bastards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went to Ivin\u2019s funeral at his township in the Bantustan. The management at the plant phoned the Bantustan government and told them I was a member of the ANC coming to cause trouble. I spoke at the funeral. I said Ivin lived for the struggle. He was no collaborator with the system. He was a proud man with the courage of a lion who stood up to them. The police detained me after the funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They took me in a van, pointing their machine guns at my head. I had to put my hands on my head. They would not allow me to put my hands in my pockets! They interrogated me for hours. They said \u201cLook, see here, we know you are a trained terrorist of the ANC. We know you have been to Czechoslovakia for training\u201d. Yes, that\u2019s what they said, I\u2019m telling you. Me, Czechoslovakia, I don\u2019t know how to spell it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Factory Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually they gave up though and spilled the beans. They told me the factory manager phoned them and told them I was an ANC terrorist. They let me go once they realised they could prove nothing against me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when all this was going on the Uwusa attacked again at the factory. They attacked the workers in the hostels. They came with guns and eight people were shot as the factory security guards watched. The police came and took some of the Uwusa. But they were all released. Just like that. They were on the streets the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time it was different. They had people to bury too. It was the collective action of the workers that made the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Bloody Cowards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end we won. Management dismissed the Uwusa. They knew we were serious. It was how we organised and when we hit back the Uwusa turned out to be bloody cowards. See they thought we would never organise and fight back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the union is strong at the factory. We are going to show them when the annual wage round comes up. Already the workers are saying \u201cLet\u2019s go on strike.\u201d I have to explain procedures. Sometimes they are very difficult. They just say \u201cNever mind percentages. What is it in rands?\u201d But we are strong. They say they don\u2019t care if we are sacked \u2013 we\u2019ll stay put till we get what we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people lost hope when Ivin was killed. Oh yes what a loss. But we are strong now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to dedicate this issue of <\/em>Inqaba ya Basebenzi to the memory of our comrade Ivin Malaza who fell like many others to an Uwusa assassin. We can never forget you Ivin, nor what you fought for. In your memory we will fight to the finish.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Ivin Malaza Memorial Fund<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after the assassination of Ivin Malaza by an Uwusa gunman, supporters of Inqaba ya Basebenzi <\/em>set up a Memorial Fund to help his family and to continue the work he had begun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response has been magnificent. A trade union branch of engineering workers in Britain wrote: \u201cwe never knew Ivin personally but please use our contribution to continue his work.\u201d This is typical of the feelings expressed by workers around the world. Supporters of Labor Militant<\/em> in the USA have collected almost R4,000, while Spanish socialists have sent R3,300. A group of dockers in Aarhus in Denmark organised a fishing trip and sent the proceeds, R720.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money has also come from Belgium, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Sweden and elsewhere. Irish Marxists, who have also suffered the death of a comrade, Colum McCallum, at the hands of a Protestant sectarian gunman, have responded generously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Britain typical donations include R120 from a branch of the National Communications Union; R100 from a Civil and Public Service Association (CPSA) Regional Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the National Executive of the CPSA have collected R400, including R180 from John MaCreadie, the Deputy General Secretary, and representative of the union on the General Council of the TUC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several thousand rand has been collected from delegates at trade union conferences in Britain. Street collections, public meetings and factory meetings have all helped to swell the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money continues to be sent in from ordinary workers angered by the brutal murder of a fellow union activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC would like to thank everyone who has contributed. We will continue Comrade Ivin\u2019s work to build Cosatu and a mass ANC with a socialist programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9\u00a0Transcribed from the original by the Marxist Workers Party (2021).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Inqaba Ya Basebenzi No.24\/25 (October 1987) Not only at BTR and Zincor, but also at a number of other workplaces, leading worker […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":284,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2514","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2514\/revisions\/2515"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}