South Africa’s largest labour federation Cosatu slammed on Friday firebrand politician Julius Malema for hijacking the Marikana strike, in which 44 people have died, for his own political gain.
Malema, who was expelled from the ruling African National Congress earlier this year for his fiery outbursts, has called for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma over the fatal shooting by police of 34 workers during a wildcat strike at platinum giant Lonmin’s Marikana mine last week.
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi called Malema ‘a wealthy, essentially right-wing leader’, accusing him of taking advantage of the Marikana bloodbath to incite workers to quit the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
‘Julius must stop what he is doing... It’s not helping him, it’s helping nobody to foment divisions in society just because he is expelled from ANC,’ Vavi told a news conference. Cosatu is part of the ANC’s governing alliance, and the NUM is one of the labour federation’s most powerful members.
Malema had on Thursday told a memorial service held for the slain miners that the country must brace for mining revolution unless workers’ conditions improve drastically.
‘Clearly we are facing an orchestrated, planned political agenda to weaken Cosatu, and if you have to weaken Cosatu you start with the biggest union, which is NUM, we are alive to that,’ said the Sdumo Dlamini, president of the umbrella union.
Cosatu boasts 2.2 million members, of which 3,00,000 are from the NUM. In a turf war that has rocked the mining sector, workers have been moving from the NUM to the breakaway Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). Mineworkers’ strikes have turned increasingly violent this year, with the worst carnage taking place at Lonmin, where 10 were killed in inter-union clashes.
Malema, who was expelled from the ruling African National Congress earlier this year for his fiery outbursts, has called for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma over the fatal shooting by police of 34 workers during a wildcat strike at platinum giant Lonmin’s Marikana mine last week.
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi called Malema ‘a wealthy, essentially right-wing leader’, accusing him of taking advantage of the Marikana bloodbath to incite workers to quit the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
‘Julius must stop what he is doing... It’s not helping him, it’s helping nobody to foment divisions in society just because he is expelled from ANC,’ Vavi told a news conference. Cosatu is part of the ANC’s governing alliance, and the NUM is one of the labour federation’s most powerful members.
Malema had on Thursday told a memorial service held for the slain miners that the country must brace for mining revolution unless workers’ conditions improve drastically.
‘Clearly we are facing an orchestrated, planned political agenda to weaken Cosatu, and if you have to weaken Cosatu you start with the biggest union, which is NUM, we are alive to that,’ said the Sdumo Dlamini, president of the umbrella union.
Cosatu boasts 2.2 million members, of which 3,00,000 are from the NUM. In a turf war that has rocked the mining sector, workers have been moving from the NUM to the breakaway Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). Mineworkers’ strikes have turned increasingly violent this year, with the worst carnage taking place at Lonmin, where 10 were killed in inter-union clashes.