Johannesburg - A silent battle of rival unions’ T-shirts characterised the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, with each side seemingly attempting to have its colours dominate the public gallery.
Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) arrived at the Rustenburg Civic Centre dressed in their green T-shirts and singing as they approached the entrance on Wednesday.
A few members of the National Union of Mineworkers trickled in wearing their red T-shirts. Their numbers swelled later. People were later seen leaving the auditorium in groups, only to return wearing either red or green T-shirts as the two unions’ silent fight continued.
It was the first time that so many people were seen in union T-shirts at the commission, with some relatives of the dead miners also seen wearing Amcu colours.
The two groups tried very hard not to mix, leading to large patches of green and red forming in the public gallery.
Some were seen, however, despite their different affiliations and colours, shaking hands and chatting during breaks.
These two unions’ roles are also under scrutiny at the commission, which is looking at what role they played in Lonmin’s illegal wage strike that left at least 44 people dead, 34 shot dead by police on August 16.
Striking mineworkers are alleged to have killed two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, among others.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa was on the witness stand on Wednesday to explain his union’s role.
He was the latest to take a swipe at Lonmin and accused the world’s third largest platinum producer of failing to use the opportunity at its disposal in engaging the striking workers.
He said the Marikana tragedy could have been averted had Lonmin acted timeously and gone and addressed its employees when they had requested that.
Mathunjwa accused Lonmin of having reneged on its commitment made on August 15, the day before the massacre, to engage the strikers.
He said workers had told him on that day that they would return to work only if the employer agreed to engage them and address their demands.
According to Mathunjwa, a meeting was scheduled for the morning of August 16 with Lonmin to discuss how the engagement would happen, and workers would then return to work.
He said he was “agitated” when Lonmin sang a different tune in the morning, saying it could not discuss anything with its employees because there was an existing salary agreement.
“I had already communicated to [strikers that Lonmin would talk to them]. I felt [we’d] been betrayed as a union,” Mathunjwa said.
He said Lonmin had previously engaged workers and presented them with an offer despite an existing agreement.
Mathunjwa said he was later told by North West police commissioner Lieutenant-General Zukiswa Mbombo when he informed her that Lonmin was reneging on its commitment to “put it in a nice way to the striking workers”.
At this point, striking workers had already made it clear that they were not going to be addressed by NUM and had chased its leader, Senzeni Zokwana, away when he tried to address them.
Amcu was now the only union that was warmly welcomed by strikers and given a chance to attempt to intervene, although the union said it was not part of the unprotected strike.
The Star