Johannesburg - Founder of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), Joseph Mathunjwa, says the work they have done to change the lives of the working class as representatives of the workers has changed.
Speaking on International Solidarity Workers’ Day, Mathunjwa said they observe this day but the events of the Marikana Sibanye Stillwater Massacre have overtaken the day.
In the Lonmin Marikana Sibanye Stillwater incident, the democratically elected government turned the guns against its own electorate, people who put them in power while protecting the interests of foreign direct investors," said Mathunjwa.
Mathunjwa said Marikana Lonmin workers were earning R4000 a month; hence, they were demanding R12 500.
"As a result, the government serving the interests of neoliberalism in white monopoly capital massacred 34 mine workers.
“Today I can report back to the nation that there are no workers at Lonmin Marikana Sibanye Stillwater who go underground, earning less than R15 000 as a basic salary, including benefits," said Mathunjwa.
It has been seven years since the Lily Mine in Mpumalanga collapsed and trapped a container underground. Inside it were three employees: Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi, and Solomon Nyirenda. Their bodies are still trapped underground.
Amcu, along with other organisations and political parties, including the EFF, have been at the forefront of the Lily Mine case to have the container retrieved.
Mathunjwa said this has opened wounds for the families and everyone who lost their loved ones, especially not having closure.
"From the days of former president Jacob Zuma, Amcu was at the forefront to try to persuade the government, to which the government never responded, even with the current sitting state president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“We have written to his office, requesting his assistance, because we thought that the sitting state president would have a soft heart because he is a former trade unionist. He was our leader during the days when he was still with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
"We even wrote to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, because he was also our secretary during the NUM days, but all our efforts fell on deaf ears.
“I've been saying, even to their families, that the government has the first right to retrieve them because they are the custodians of the minerals of this country and are the ones who are issuing the licences," Mathunjwa said.
Mathunjwa did not mince his words, criticising the government for not exercising “charity begins at home".
"It's so embarrassing that our government is so proactive on international rescue missions, like, for instance, recently in Türkiye; they were there, but they cannot have their own charity at home.
“Today, Lily Mine has become a football pitch for political expediency for those who are still gunning for people to vote for them.
“Seven years since Lily Mine, with the country that is regarded as having the best Constitution in the world, but they cannot serve their own people," he said.
Mathunjwa said South Africa is a failed state.
"There is no security, unemployment is rife, and we are the capital retailing centre of the world.
“We consume food that we don't manufacture, and we wear clothes that we don't manufacture. God gave us all the opportunities and mineral resources, but we cannot utilise them," Mathunjwa said.
The Star