The South African Communist Party (SACP) is outraged at planned retrenchments at De Beers Kimberly Mines, an official said on Saturday.
”We are particularly angered by the company’s decision to close down without proper consultation with the unions, especially the National Union of Mineworkers,” said Northern Cape provincial secretary Norman Shushu.
He described De Beers’s decisions as a ”blatant and arrogant” perpetuation of the job-loss bloodbath.
”They are doing the opposite of what government and our country have committed themselves to — creating work and fighting poverty.
”In the wake of a 40% unemployment and grinding poverty for millions of our people, De Beers is threatening to reverse some of the gains we have made during the first decade of our democracy.”
The SACP also finds it insensitive that further retrenchments were announced, because the company is trading workers’ jobs and their only means of livelihood for profit margins and outrageous remuneration packages for management.
”This is, frankly, an insult to the sacrifices and struggles made by millions of our people to create a better and more equitable South Africa,” said Shushu.
He said De Beers is proving to be an expression of the ugliest face of monopoly capitalism in the country, leading from the front in its assault on the working class in general and the black working class in particular.
”The working class and ordinary people of Kimberley deserve better, because their labour created the wealth which this company commands today.”
The communists called on the labour movement in general, the National Union of Mineworkers in particular, to challenge De Beers’s moves. ”As communists and the working class, we are ready to do all we can to challenge De Beers,” said Shushu.
De Beers was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa