ECONOMIC Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says his party will lay criminal charges against Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Lonmin directors and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for allegedly conspiring to kill Marikana workers.
Malema said on Thursday his party believes Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa influenced police to shoot striking Lonmin workers because he labelled them as criminals. He said that the EFF would lay criminal charges against Lonmin directors, former Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Ramaphosa on Friday.
The party will also lay charges against National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and the former North West Police Commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo for allegedly instructing the Tactical Response Team (TRT) to kill the workers after a standoff with police in August 2012. At a Thursday press conference in Johannesburg, Malema rejected the Marikana report and said the party planned to institute a reparation process against Lonmin.
He said the party would travel to the Marikana Police Station in the North West on Friday to lay the charges, with Malema accusing government and police of ‘conspiracy to commit murder’. Malema told reporters: ‘Politically, the EFF will use all its available platforms to expose the murderous regime of the ANC. We will mobilise, agitate and educate the whole of South African society and the world to see the hypocrisy of the ANC government.
‘The EFF will do the following: lay criminal charges against Nathi Mthethwa for conspiring to commit murder of workers in Marikana and celebrating the massacre on behalf of government after the killing; lay charges against Mbombo for instructing the TRT to kill workers; lay criminal charges against Phiyega for conspiring to kill workers; and instructing the TRT to kill workers.’
Malema said that while his party doesn’t trust the police to investigate its own men and women in blue, the red berets believe there are individuals who will uphold the constitution and make the right call. He promised he won’t give up until politicians take responsibility for the killings. The EFF will also institute a process of repatriations against Lonmin on behalf of the victims of the Marikana tragedy.
The party believes that the company must pay compensation of R10 million to each family of the deceased mine workers and R5 million to those who were injured. Malema said that Lonmin failed the families by refusing to accede to the R12,000 minimum salary increase which was demanded by workers.
He added that the money should be used for, amongst other things, education of the children of the dead mine workers. Malema also accused Lonmin of tax evasion. He said: ‘Report Lonmin to the South African Revenue Services for all cases of aggressive tax avoidance, which stole potential money for workers and for the state, as it is required by the law.’
• Meanwhile, nine trade unions loyal to expelled COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Wednesday briefed media on the trade union federation’s special national congress. The ‘Nine Plus Unions’ previously said they would not accept COSATU becoming an appendage to the ruling ANC.
They told reporters on Wednesday that they will not boycott this month’s national congress.
Although the issues are not on the special congress’s agenda, the unions said they would seek to put the expulsions at ‘centre stage’, amid perceptions of widespread on-the-ground support in other COSATU unions for NUMSA and Vavi. We will insist that the congress delegates be allowed to discuss the expulsion of NUMSA, with its 365,000 members and the dismissal of the general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi,’ the unions said.
Briefing the media on the sidelines of a Communication Workers Union picket outside MTN’s offices in Johannesburg on Wednesday, CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said: ‘The main reason for calling the (congress) was to avoid a disastrous implosion of, and split within, the federation. Yet the current leadership is now trying to manipulate the congress in a way which will accelerate such an implosion or precipitate such a split.’
Pro-National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) unions called for a special congress in 2013 but this month’s talks have unity and leadership on the agenda, not the issues of Vavi or the union’s reinstatement. COSATU leaders maintain NUMSA has a constitutional right to appeal its expulsion during the federation’s ordinary congress in December. The special national congress is scheduled for July 13-14.
The ‘Nine Plus Unions’ want the COSATU leadership removed but have refused to be drawn on replacements. They would not say whether they would form an alternative federation should their bid to bring NUMSA and Vavi back into COSATU fail. The rebel unions are NUMSA; the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU); SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU); Public and Allied Workers Union of SA (PAWUSA); SA State and Allied Workers Union (SASAWU); Communication Workers Union (CWU); SA Football Players Union (SAPFU); Democratic Nursing Union (DENOSA) and some members of the SA Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).
The unions will raise the affiliate status of the Liberated Metalworkers Union of SA (LIMUSA) and that of COSATU second deputy president Zingiswa Losi, who left NUMSA to join another union. LIMUSA, is a ‘shelf-union’, and should be debated as the union’s admission into COSATU was ‘unconstitutional’. ‘We will deliberate on the acceptance of a shelf-union LIMUSA, without following the prescriptions of the constitution to replace NUMSA,’ the unions said.
The High Court in Johannesburg last month on June 9 dismissed NUMSA’s application to be declared an affiliate of COSATU and to be allowed to attend the special congress in full force. This meant it could not attend the special national congress. NUMSA was expelled in November for its decision not to support the ANC and to continue organising in all sectors, a violation of the federation’s ‘one union, one industry’ principle.
NUMSA president Andrew Chirwa said the union intended to mount a legal bid to challenge its expulsion. The ‘Nine Plus Unions’ felt COSATU’s struggle for workers’ rights was being sidelined and that not enough was being done to fight corruption.
