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Business Times reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) says it will not stop recruiting members in the mining sector despite the murders of a union shop steward and a volunteer recruiter on the platinum belt in North West.
Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said Numsa was concerned about the killings in the Rustenburg area as workers had the right to join the union of their choice. Mahlomola Hlothoane, an Impala Platinum shop steward, was shot dead on 24 June, less than a year after volunteer recruiter Malibongwe Mdazo was gunned down on the steps of the offices of the CCMA in Rustenburg in August 2021. Numsa, which has historically recruited in the manufacturing and steel sectors, branched out into other parts of the economy, including mining, after breaking away from Cosatu in 2014. A labour movement insider said he was worried about Numsa’s move to recruit in the mining industry: “If Numsa is going to recruit permanent members in the mining industry, including Impala Platinum, we may see violence. We know they have been secretly recruiting in Sibanye-Stillwater’s Driefontein mine”. But, Hlubi-Majola said: “This is not the wild west. This is SA, where the constitution reigns supreme. Workers have the constitutional right to join a union of their choice and they should be able to do so without risking their lives. What we have seen playing out in Rustenburg and surrounding areas is very abnormal.” The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which has majority membership on the platinum belt, are the dominant worker representatives in the mining sector.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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