Even as South Africa marks the two-year anniversary of the Marikana massacre – which marked a decisive turning point for the country's platinum mining sector – extensive new research indicates that the coal mining industry poses a wide range of serious challenges of...
mines
Where is the EFF?: A brief account of the EFF’s existence thus far
'A giant is born,' said Julius Malema, 'the Commander-in-Chief' of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at the confirmation of the party's registration in Pretoria on the 8th of October in 2013. There has been a veritable hurricane of responses following the birth of...
Is Bureaucracy killing COSATU?
Bureaucracy is defined as management or administration marked by hierarchical authority among numerous offices and by fixed procedures. The abuse of power by officials is a very old phenomenon in the labour movement worldwide. Bureaucratisation is seen in this article...
Marikana and the crisis of Migrancy | by Micah Reddy
The Marikana massacre and unrest on South Africa's mines in 2012 elicited a flurry of analysis, much of it superficial and too hastily produced to be of any real use. One of the more authoritative accounts, however, came from former trade unionist Gavin Hartford, now...
The Missing women of Marikana | by Camalita Naicker
Often when the history of 'big' events is recorded, after a while, the stories with specific details are eroded and obscured. It is made to fit easily into a certain kind of analysis that endures over time. So much so that what is subsumed under these theoretical...
Selections from NUMSA’s scathing response to the SACP and ANC leadership
Some choice bits from NUMSA's response to COSATU The full text can be found here 13. We have boldly maintained that at the heart of the crisis in COSATU are two opposing forces: the forces of capitalism and the forces socialism. The capitalist forces within the...
Statement of the Workers Committee at Angloplats
We shall not accept one more job loss at Angloplats – We shall resist – We shall fightWe do not accept the decision of Angloplats to fire 6000 workers. We are not relieved that management has reduced the number from 14,000. It may please the government and Minister...
The end of NUM’s hegemony: AMCU and new mlitancy
The Association of Mining and Construction Workers (AMCU) was born in 1998 out of a strike at Douglas Colliery, one of the oldest mines belonging to Ingwe Coal, when 3,000 workers occupied the underground works of the mine in protest against the dismissal of Joseph...




