Hundreds of Amcu members attended the 5th anniversary of the Marikana massacre in Nkaneng, Marikana in the North West, 16 August 2017. Picture: ANA Reporter
The 200,000 member-strong Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and government are on course to butt heads after the latter yesterday gazetted plans to deregister the union.
In a notice in the Government Gazette, labour registrar Lehlohonolo Daniel Molefe said that in terms of section 106 (2B) of the Labour Relations Act, he planned to cancel Amcu’s registration.
This was because it had “ceased to function in terms of its constitution”, and it was “not a genuine trade union as envisaged in the Act”.
Amcu was a breakaway from the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under the leadership of Joseph Mathunjwa. It rose to prominence during the Marikana protests and the massacre in which 44 people were killed.
Relations between the two unions have remained frosty, with several killings in the Free State goldfields and North West platinum belt attributed to this enmity in recent years.
In February, NUM accused Amcu of being behind an attack in which two miners were shot dead and three others wounded while waiting for transport to Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix mine in the Free State.
A number of Amcu members were killed in the North West platinum belt in September last year. At least 11 cases of murder and attempted murder were reported between May and October.
Amcu has also made a name for itself as slightly more militant that NUM, having led several strikes in the platinum and coal mining industries.
The latest was a five-month-long strike at the Sibanye-Stillwater mine. The strike was called off just last week, but not before nine deaths and more than R1.6 billion in profit loss.
The strike took place despite other unions at Sibanye-Stillwater having already agreed to a three-year wage deal.
Amcu and the department of labour have also been at loggerheads since at least 2014, with questions over whether the union complied with regulations for financial auditing and holding regular elective conferences.
Yesterday’s notice opened a 60-day window for anyone with objections to approach the registrar.
“All interested parties are hereby invited to make written representations as to why the registration should not be cancelled,” the notice reads.
Mathunjwa could not be reached for comment yesterday.
– earlc@citizen.co.za
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