ANA reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction (Amcu) said on Tuesday that newly-appointed Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, was conflicted.
“Already during the Farlam Commission it was pointed out that Minister Mantashe was involved in the events leading up to the Marikana massacre. Evidence showed a clear agenda to destabilise Amcu, with his open loyalty to his former trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM],” Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said on Tuesday. He went on to state: “Even though Amcu welcomes the replacement of the Gupta-linked former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, Minister Mantashe comes with his own skeletons in the closet. It is clear that President Cyril Ramaphosa does not fully comprehend that Minister Mantashe is seriously conflicted when it comes to the mining sector.” Mathunjwa also said Mantashe was a clear enemy of Amcu, and it was very likely that he would act against the union. Mantashe was the general secretary of the NUM when he expelled Mathunjwa from the NUM. Mathunjwa went on to form Amcu, and in 2012 dethroned the NUM as a dominant union in platinum mines around Rustenburg. “It is clear that Minister Mantashe is completely conflicted. It looks like an effort to revive the NUM in the mining sector. Minister Mantashe is not a neutral person,” Mathunjwa claimed.
- Read this report in full at The Citizen
- Read Amcu’s press statement in this regard at Amcu online
- See too, Resounding welcome for Gwede as Minister, who declines opportunity to comment, at Mining Weekly
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