/ 21 July 2013

NUM: ‘Our people are killed for wearing red T-shirts’

Num: 'our People Are Killed For Wearing Red T Shirts'

"We are still a majority in the bargaining unit catering for officials," said Eric Gcilitshana, the NUM's chief negotiator at Lonmin.

The union was on a recruitment drive after losing its majority status at Lonmin.

"NUM still exists. We lost members in the other unit," he said.

Gcilitshana claimed workers were being intimidated for wearing NUM T-shirts.

"Our people are killed for wearing red T-shirts. They told us they risked being killed if seen next to us."

Police officers and private security guards have been deployed at the stadium.

A group of men, some wrapped in blankets, gathered on a piece of ground near the stadium on Sunday afternoon. They were reportedly members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union living in Nkaneng.

"They pretend to watch football, but we know they are spying on us," said mineworker Annie Melk.

Financial blow

NUM has not only lost its majority on the platinum mines but its dwindling membership has seen it forfeit its prestige position as the largest Cosatu affiliate.

This means it will suffer a financial blow as it will lose millions of rands in fees each month.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) announced last week that it was the biggest affiliate of trade union federation Cosatu, because the latest figures show it has 320 000 members.

Cosatu insiders say the NUM will now move to fourth spot in terms of size — after Numsa, the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union.

A senior Cosatu leader told the M&G that the NUM’s membership now stands at less than 250 000, after it revealed it had lost more than 40 000 members during Cosatu’s central executive committee meeting last month.

Labour analyst at Adcorp, Loane Sharp, said by his calculations on losses in the platinum sector alone the NUM could rank as low as sixth in terms of size.

The NUM does not dispute that it has lost the 40 000, but it claims that the loss comes off a higher base.

It denies that the loss of members will result in the union dropping in rank to fifth or sixth in size within Cosatu.

Forty-four people were killed in Marikana last August during strike-related violence at Lonmin. Thirty four of them were shot dead by the police on August 16. Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.