Rustenburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) would never fight other workers, the union said on Tuesday.
“There is nothing that the NUM will benefit by fighting fellow black mineworkers. Our fight is directed at Sibanye Gold that is dividing black mineworkers. Our fight is directed against capitalist barbarism,” said spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu.
He said the union would hold a meeting at Sibanye Gold’s Cooke operation in Westonaria on Wednesday, where Joseph Montisetse, NUM deputy president, would address the mass meeting.
The meeting followed an attack that led to the death of NUM member Ranthimo Nkosi and left others injured. The attacked was alleged to have triggered by the rivalry between NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), during the verification process of union members at the Cooke operations.
Mammburu said the NUM, since its creation in 1982, had faced many difficulties and challenges but had always, with the support of its members and other black mineworkers overcome.
“The NUM never stopped fighting, never stopped trying. It never surrendered. Our members and other black mineworkers will fight Sibanye Gold the same they did when they defeated the apartheid regime. It is a pity that some unions are being used by these mining companies to fight fellow black mineworkers. We have no time for sellouts and lapdogs of the mining bosses who are used to attack, kill and assault other black mineworkers. The NUM will never co-operate and collaborate with mining companies to fight other black mineworkers.”
Amcu refuted the allegation that two NUM branch leaders were attacked and critically injured by Amcu members.
“We will not take responsibility for incidents that happen in the township at night. Our responsibility will be around the workplace if there was any illegal strike. NUM is busy interfering with the processes as they are losing members. They were not supposed to stop people or complain while the process is still on. Their duty was to observe, like Amcu was also observing,” said general secretary Jeff Mphahlele in statement.
Amcu said it had been recruiting at Rand Uranium’s Cooke operations since 2013, and during the recruitment processes they found out they had a threshold to obtain organisational rights within Cooke 1, 2 and 3.
“This year in March we hit the 25 percent threshold needed to obtain organisational rights. Instead of giving us organisational rights, management refused stating that NUM was disputing that their members had left them in order to join Amcu,” he said.
African News Agency