Johannesburg - A lack of trust in shop stewards led to the collapse in support for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the platinum belt, eventually creating the powder keg that exploded in the Marikana massacre, a book says.
The growing alienation of workers from the NUM led to the growth of the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) in the North West.
Tensions and rivalry between these two unions were among the defining factors of the unprotected 2012 strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine that ended in the deaths of more than 40 workers in August that year.
The book, quietly released by Cosatu’s research institute earlier this month, is a review of evidence gathered in a 2012 survey of workers.
According to a chapter contributed by labour economist Neva Makgetla, just 29 percent of NUM members in the North West said they had a lot of influence with their shop stewards, compared with 42 percent in the rest of the country.
“Only 50 percent of (NUM) members in the North West said they would ask shop stewards for help if afraid of dismissal or discipline, compared with 65 percent in other provinces. They were more likely than other members of NUM to ask the union office or someone outside the union to help instead.”
Cosatu’s leadership tried to prevent the release of the 2012 Workers Survey for fear that its findings would be politically damaging to the federation and the Tripartite Alliance before last year’s general election.
The book details evidence of a growing distance between ranks in the country’s biggest trade union federation.
Makgetla’s chapter contends that corruption is rampant in unions in the North West, with almost one in three workers saying they had seen corruption in their union, compared with 18 percent among other organised miners and 12 percent of members of other Cosatu affiliates.
“By far the most common form of corruption cited by miner members was bribes of shop stewards or organisers by management,” Makgetla says.
Two other figures suggest that the NUM was not “as entrenched or effective in the platinum belt as in the rest of the country”.
Ninety-eight percent of NUM members in North West did not know who their union leaders were, according to the 2012 survey.
Only 32 percent of NUM members in the province accessed union benefits, such as funeral cover, compared with 43 percent in other parts of the country.
Only 4 percent accessed bursaries, insurance, loans or medical aid, compared with 25 percent of NUM members in the rest of the country.
The 2012 survey also found violence associated with strikes was prevalent in the North West.
“Even in 2012, at the time of the Cosatu survey and before the strike and the (Marikana) massacre, miners in Marikana were significantly more likely to say that strikes had involved violence or intimidation by employers or workers,” Makgetla writes.
“Among miners in the North West, 25 percent said there had been violence or intimidation by police or management, compared with 7 percent in the rest of the country.
“Moreover, 18 percent said there had been violence or intimidation by strike supporters in the North West, compared with 3 percent in the rest of the country.”
This culture of violence associated with strikes on the platinum belt led to the death toll of 44 during the 2012 strike, which was led mainly by independent strike committees that bypassed the NUM and its structures.
The launch of the book was apparently poorly attended due to internal wrangling. Its contents are unpopular with Cosatu’s leadership.
The NUM has apparently not been aware of the book. “We would have loved to read it,” said NUM spokes-man Livhuwani Mammburu.
Katishi Masemola, general secretary of the Food and Allied Workers Union, one of the few Cosatu affiliates represented at the launch, said some people believed the survey findings had been manipulated.
“My view is the results don’t sit well with people who want to assume workers are not disgruntled.”
Labour Bureau