AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa
Photo by: Duane Daws
The African National Congress (ANC) had, through the 2012 Marikana massacre, betrayed black workers said Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) leader Joseph Mathunjwa on Thursday.
“The massacre in Marikana was well-planned by the ANC,” said Mathunjwa.
“Our beloved ANC, the liberation party, sold its own people to the highest bidder.”
Mathunjwa, addressing a student-led Marikana solidarity march at the University of Cape Town (UCT), said the ANC had failed the country on a number of occasions.
“In 1994, we compromised our rights and dignity through this facade called democracy,” said Mathunjwa.
According to the AMCU leader, all that had occurred through the democratic transition was the transfer of power from a white capitalist to a black one.
“Capitalism will always be capitalism regardless of colour.”
Mathunjwa said similar to the colonial era, black workers were being murdered for minerals, and the belief that democracy would bring relief for the working class had been shattered.
He urged South Africans to learn from past mistakes and forgo putting the needs of a party before that of the country or continent.
“There is no one who is going to liberate you but yourself,” he said.
However, warned Mathunjwa, no amount of “violent protest” would bring about the change being called for by the working class and students across the country.
“A political party is simply an administrator and every five years you have the chance to make a change,” he said.
Mathunjwa also warned against what he termed “another level of colonisation”, namely South Africa’s ties with the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] nations, specifically the country’s relationship with China.
“It started as ‘BRIC’ and then they added South Africa because they realised we are the gateway to Africa’s wealth.”
The optional teaching of Mandarin in South African schools was, according to Mathunjwa, further evidence of the second-phase colonisation.
Additionally, there was no real investment in Africa from the Chinese said Mathunjwa.
“If they come to build infrastructure, they bring their own steel, their own concrete, and their own people. We sign away job opportunities to Asia.”