Ntate Moloto
I'm not in the habit of blowing my own trumpet. The work we do in the
communities to improve the quality of life speaks for itself, and I belief it
will eventually be judged on its own merits. Kgagodi has just indicated the
labor union work and indicated that ongoing struggles in the confines of
mineworker challenges are done by our own comrades . I concur that there is
obviously other matters we cannot divulge in open forums. Here is my own bit
that I assume will help you to vent your frustrations in the right direction:
I fund a maths and science Saturday class for teachers and pupils in Bapong
village where we also engage young people with the circumstances that led to
organisations like Lonrho changing face to appear behind the scenes and own say
Lonmin in their ancenstral land. This is year three of my involvement.In
Kareepoort in the vicinity of the Platinum mines, we have put together
agro-business strategies for twenty farmers. These are claimants of
agricultural land with serious intentions to produce. Again, I helped to raise
the substantial funding for farming implements and to get technical support.
We have done this without involving government structures.I also participate in
community gatherings and contribute to the definitions and attempts to resolve
the conflicts between traditional leadership authority, their structures and
the interests of the majority. We are making significant break-throughs. And
I do not hide the fact that I am a Pan Africanist. There are several Party
members I'm in touch with who are doing the same despite the fact that we are
largely township born and bred. On Saturday after the Marikana butchery of
African mineworkers, I had a frank chat with a senior ANC leader and government
minister, at the funeral of a family member, and stated the same things I send
on PAYCO forums.
In stating these examples I am not saying I'm doing better. Far from it, I am
an activist and voluntarily work with communities. I refute the allegations you
make that we are reactionary. The political term reactionary implies the
forces who stand opposite the interests of the masses who are downtrodden. It
is a dialectical term used for its political connotation to draw the lines for
and against progress. The mine owners (transnational corporate companies)
would be reactionary forces for instance, because they stand as agents of
imperialism and monopoly capitalism. Lenin had said there are no armchair
revolutionaries - he said this is an oxymoron. The revolution is an act of
doing fundamental changes in the thoughts and actions of the masses. So we
must understand that to debate ideological issues and awaken ourselves from
slumber is a revolutionary act. He - Vladimir Lenin - was accused of the same
things as you do now. Mothopeng, Sobukwe, Raboroko, et al, were all accused of
the same things by the Charterists in the Tranvaal ANC and even when the PAC
was first launched - by Josias Madzunya and his cohorts. That group did not
even participate in the Positive Action Campaign.
I would like to say though that the attempt to denigrate the fresh and vigorous
debates on public issues is a pot shot to suppress views. A high school
teacher once said hot air is released as a result of combustion when various
gasses clash inside the human body. I would ordinarily disregard the lousy
comments of attack dogs who are sent to spoil good things because they are
often misinformed and lazy to inquire. We should be doing more than just
trying to scrape each others eyes out each time a golden opportunity comes to
raise the PAC from the doldrums. Multi media platforms and ICT have a wider
reach, and the importance of spaces like the PAYCO Forum cannot be ignored. In
fact it is foolhardy to claim that those who contribute to the discussions are
engaged in empty talk. The internet technology is a revolutionary contribution
to communications on a worldwide basis, and it has a quick and wider reach. We
must learn to use it effectively.
Let us rather contribute to the substance of the contributions in a fair manner
and avoid releasing hot air. The PAC is a melting pot of ideas from various
angles: the faith communities, the Marxists, the libertarians, the working
people, the middle class, and others. We have to allow an expression of these
ideas to make sense of the hardships that are visiting the African people. In
this way we can collectively serve the Azanian masses better.
Jaki
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: RE: [PAYCO] Emailing: 6 MAY RUSTENBURG REVIEW FINAL EDIT.pdf
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:32:29 +0200
Comrades most of africanist are armedchair revolutionaries incapable of doing
anything.theirs is to engage in empty talk.we cannot keep on talking about
marikana and yet fail to go there and mix with those affected miners and their
families.those who considers themselves as majonis and revolutionaries in
theory and empty in practice are exposed.naratiny and analysis the marikana
situation without geting involved get us nowhere.i think we are exposing
ourselves as reactionaries. From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nkrumah Raymond Kgagudi
Sent: 22 August 2012 07:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: RE: [PAYCO] Emailing: 6 MAY RUSTENBURG REVIEW FINAL EDIT.pdf
Comrade Sebenzile
More mineworkers will continue to resign from NUM and seek alternative trade
unions. As far as I know in 2010 majority of these workers declared to follow
the Kroondal Murray and Roberts mineworkers methods.
Facts is mineworkers and many within the manufacturing and energy industry lost
faith and confidence in NUM and NUMSA including NEHAWU in the public sector.
This translates to a rise of political conscioussness also about the ANC.
The most unfortunate state is vocal absence political alternative to mobilise
and focus this workers!
Mr. Raymond Mashilo Kgagudi
Cellphone: 0749226361
Email: [email protected]
On 22 Aug 2012 17:02, "Sebenzile Mlaza" <[email protected]> wrote:
Comrade Seroke, We, as a party are seriously suffocated by some opportunists
inside the party and by compradors in the ANC-led government, who are in
cohorts with the mass media, and I believe one of these days we need to craft a
workable plan going forward. Time is something we don’t have, we urgently need
to get our house in order. I mean, we may decide to keep quite, but for how
long. Meanwhile, Black people are extremely suffocated by the system both at
the workplace and at their partly tarred neighbourhoods – this I know for sure
from my own personal experience (I don’t have time to dwell much on this). We
can no longer afford the luxury of keeping quite and forever glossing over the
national question, we seriously and urgently need to get our house back on
track. Izwe lethu ...i-AfrikaSebenzile From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jaki Seroke
Sent: 21 August 2012 12:06 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [PAYCO] Emailing: 6 MAY RUSTENBURG REVIEW FINAL EDIT.pdf Comrades
TT and Nkrumah The Benchmark Research gives a detailed background to the
conditions which formed the basis of mass protests by the communities in
Rustenburg and surrounding areas, and Nkrumah lays out the internal conflicts
in the mines between management and the unions on the one hand and between the
union leadership and its membership on the other, which all eventually led to
the Marikana butchery of mineworkers. And Jacob Zuma with Riah Phiyega (the
newly appointed national commissioner of police) say we should not point
fingers. The trade unions are designed to subsume the workers into tools of
capital, to be willingly exploited with their own consent and to have token
power or make belief in the process of decision making. Their only strength is
the numbers which they sometimes use for 'tools down' and 'legal strikes'.
Their power to bargain is directly removed from them through a representation
by the leadership of trade unions who do not value them and care for their
needs. It is the same thing as political parties and parliament. Leaders in
trade unions and in political parties represent themselves. No, they represent
big business. If you listened to the spokespersons of the National Union of
Mineworkers in the build up to the Marikana butchery of workers and in the
current aftermath you could swear that you were having a terrible nightmare.
It is shockingly very real. What should happen is that the power of
decision-making in the labour unions should rest with the shop steward council.
These are true representatives of workers - on the shop floor, in the coal
face, with proximity to their constituencies. Officials in their comfortable
and cozy offices are only interested in the compound subscriptions so as to
earn from them super salaries and, in conflict of interest, to misdirect and
misinform workers in the long term. At the last NUM conference in June its
president Zukwana focused on and proposed that men should march naked on the
Goodman gallery. How does that help the Lonmin mineworkers who have had this
burning issue all along? Labour union leadership should consciously take the
stand point of workers in living style and in political outlook. By the bye,
the NUM was established after an initiative of Africanists who worked with
CUSA, then led by Piroshaw Camay in the early eighties. Cyril with his Black
Consciousness background was a legal consultant briefed to draft the union
constitution and initially represent the workers. It was a practical decision
to have him become the first Secretary General. The PAC was weak in Europe
where union support emanated, and the PAC labour secretariat did not have an
extended network of union contacts to support this big project. Cyril's love
of power and money got a better hold on him and he 'crosstituted' with NUM to
the Charterists. It is more or less the same thing with NACTU affiliates.
This is the union aristocracy Nkrumah talks about. It is a fiefdom - personal
empire building. Look at the profiles of SGs in SACWU, BCAWU, etc. Even our
Black Consciousness partners unashamedly supped with management or government -
Skosana, Cindi, Nevholobodwe, etc. It is very difficult to distinguish between
Frans Paleni, SG of NUM, and the CEO of Lonmin. I hold the opinion that our
inconsistency and self-doubt, and the lack of rigorous ideological debates,
particularly in the past 27 years, have broken down the relationship we have
always had with the Azanian masses. We in the PAC are the custodians of the
aspirations of the fighting forces in the Rustenburg communities and in the
shanties around the mines. There is no other organisation that is designed to
articulate and champion the interests of African masses such as the PAC. When
the mineworkers of Lonmin broke ranks with NUM their first port of call was the
PAC. What does that tell you? The NUM leadership and the government security
apparatus decided to kill out of fear rather than reason. They will then buy
time and make up excuses in the commission that Zuma is calling for. Rural
folk invariably resort to traditional rituals when faced with insurmountable
difficulties. They consult healers and spirit mediums, and they take these
rituals seriously. In themselves the rituals are not a crime and they are not
dangerous. People sing and dance with long knifes and machetes at weddings.
Like everything else, there is a window of opportunity to give a different
interpretation of cultural practice to suit political ends. In this case, when
its suits the ANC government the mineworkers are said to have been armed and
dangerous. I'd admit that some culture vultures use their positions for
personal benefit at the expense of innocent people. There are charlatans who
could be doing opportunistic trade and taking advantage of the situation.
However it does not warrant a massacre. The SADF used the Kwa Zulu rural folk
in similar conditions to fan the fires of a low intensity warfare. We in the
PAC could not then (and cannot now) make a serious intervention politically.
We are inconsistent in our interpretations of events and in our practice; we
have self-doubt in the responsibility to work with and lead the masses; and we
tend to become childish, sycophants and one dimensional instead of holding
serious debates internally that will end in a clear line of march. I was in
the PAC leadership structures when the party president unilaterally decided to
pay a visit and shake hands with Oupa Gcozo, Ciskei military/political head,
after defenceless protesters were butchered. Mandela had said in 1990 that
Oupa Gcozo was a hero when he staged a coup in the bantustan. The Chaarterists
were reversing their association with Gcozo when the Bisho match was poorly
organized, and led to the killing of about 10 people. The PAC leadership on
the other hand was out of sync with the people - hence the Judas visit. This
was a monumental political blunder and lack of discipline from the number one
office of the Party. He went to congratulate the killers of African people.
Leaders must learn to consult widely within the organisation; they must hold
true to the strategic objectives of the party; they must have broad shoulders
and accept constructive criticism by their members; and, they must be willing
to sacrifice their own selfish interests, and become practical and symbolic
representatives of the collective leadership. In this instance, the man had
committed sacrilege. His sycophant supporters saw nothing wrong. My gripe is
that we in the new millenium have not discussed and reviewed these errors of
the PAC because we there is a reactionary tendency to nurse the feelings of
powerful selfish individuals. We are then prone to do the same mistakes.
Phiyega says she 'is not sorry' about the death of 44 mineworkers in Marikana.
What is difference with Jimmy Kruger's 'dit laat my koud' after the murder of
Steve Biko? Zuma appointed her on the basis of a nice cv and her nearness to
the government programmes. The SAPS has strong pockets of organisational
cultures internally, and in most cases the professional police are overlooked
when senior appointments are made. It is doubtful she would make any
difference since she as an outsider will only be a lame-duck national
commissioner. The acting national commissioner before her appointment was
overlooked after he'd raised the unprofessional conduct and scandals of the
head of crime intelligence in cahoot with the minister of police. There are
only ten water cannon trucks for crown control in the SAPS nationwide and only
one was used in Marikana. There is evidence of only one pistol taken from a
dead policeman a week earlier. The contingent of 450 police(men) invaded the
mountain of striking workers - not otherwise. I ask you to close your eyes and
picture in your mind the marauding colonial army shooting at African formations
of resistance, and please tell me the differences with the butchery of
Marikana. The former you can imagine - the latter you have the advantage of
real footage of the incident. Jaki Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012
08:51:22 +0200
Subject: Re: [PAYCO] Emailing: 6 MAY RUSTENBURG REVIEW FINAL EDIT.pdf
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Comrade Xundu
There Lonmin occurance is not new in the past twenty four months mainly in
Rustenburg area mineworkers had been resigning from NUM en masse to other trade
union. Similar occurance happened in Welkom Harmony Gold and some of the Angol
Gold mines. At all occurances NUM has always been and enjoyed support and
consent of Mine management, Municipal and SAPS has always acted on the basis of
political instructions against mineworkers, example is Kroondale Murray and
Robert mineworkers leaders had been imprisoned. Certainly, NUM as a workers
formation is under direct control of a deep rooted labour aristocracy who's
interests is protection is of the deracialised capitalist mode of production
managed by the neocolonial ANC Government and state including parliament. At
the roots of the matter is the political potential and rising conscioussness
among mineworkers to expose and act contrary to the dominant class interests.
About NACTU, we should not be deceived that NACTU is pro-PAC, NACTU leadesrhip
has maintained a constitent position that NACTU is political independent thus
will not aligned with any political party including PAC. Attempts made to
organise and systematically influence and win majority of workers particularly
affiliates of NACTU to embrace, support and champion and identify openly with
the aims and objectives of the PAC by the efforts made through the
reorganisation of PALF were countered by comrades who formed Africanists in
Labour. Most NACTU affiliates are known as strike breakers and their apolitical
policy position has reduced them to be yellow trade trade union, suffering also
from a highly rooted labour aristocracy some owning businesses and Investment
Companies without being accountable and transparent to workers thus also
perpetuating exploitation of the black African workers.
Now, the current task aims at using concrete experiences of workers and trade
unions so as to deliberate and provide the political context as to what options
should be pursued in light of the rising workers's resentment of and
resignation from trade unions. In South Africa, less than 30% of employees are
trade union members this implies that there is more than 7million workers not
belonging to any trade union with NACTU membership having dropped from an
estimated 300 000 members to less than 80 000 membership characterised by very
small and insignificant trade unions. Drawing from these research and
experiences many hold, some of the daunting questions is from a socialist
perspective should we be linked to a specific trade unions or as a
revolutionary party we should urge a principled political unity of workers
beyond narrow trade union limitations? How do we as a paety develop and
strengthen an African proletarian approach and thrust to agitate African
workers' class interest and forge a political unity and action of workers for a
seizure of state political power? Do trade unions in South Africa forge workers
division or unity for or beyond narrow economic interests and without negating
workers's immediate demand?
The recent developments dictate that we should sharpen and formulate political
methods to mobilise and organise african workers based on a socialist programme
for siezure of state political power, total liberation and unification of
Africa.
Mr. Raymond Mashilo Kgagudi
Cellphone: 0749226361
Email: [email protected] 21 Aug 2012 07:08, "tembelani xundu"
<[email protected]> wrote:Son of the Soil I assume you are better placed to
analyse and even speculate what may the cause behind butchering of workers at
Marikana. I do not believe for a moment that the equivalent of Special Forces
ie the National Intervention Unit can be mobilised to handle crowd control. The
very fact that they were mobilised to me indicates that the Minister of Police
by extension the government planned to do as they did. But what motivated them,
is it to send a statement to those who are busy defining themselves outside
COSATU? By the way what is the footprint of our NACTU in the mining and
construction industry? Tembelani From: Nkrumah <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 11:01 AM
Subject: [PAYCO] Emailing: 6 MAY RUSTENBURG REVIEW FINAL EDIT.pdf
Greetings comrades
Find attached research about the state of mineworkers in Rustenburg Area. We
wi...
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