The Militant - April 29, 2013 -- Mandela: Violence among us aids rulers’ effort to weaken struggle

Vol. 77/No. 16 April 29, 2013

Mandela: Violence among us aids
rulers’ effort to weaken struggle
(Books of the Month column)

Below is an excerpt from Nelson Mandela Speaks, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for April. In February 1990, the white supremacist government of South Africa lifted a 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the leading organization in the anti-apartheid struggle, and released ANC leader Mandela from prison after more than 27 years. Through Mandela’s own words this book traces the unfolding democratic revolution in South Africa from the early 1990s up to the scheduling in April 1994 of the first one-person, one-vote elections. Excerpted here is part of a speech Mandela gave to 700 delegates at the Seventh Congress of the National Union of Mineworkers in April 1991. Copyright © 1993 by Nelson Mandela and Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

BY NELSON MANDELA
The ANC recognizes that the mining industry is facing a crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Johannesburg, the “city of gold,” bears the scars of decades of burrowing deep underground for that most precious of metals, gold. The dust that blows into the townships comes from the mine dumps that have become a geographical feature of this city. But the scars that cover the most painful wounds are those deep inside every mine worker in this country.

You know what it is to work in the heat deep in the bowels of the earth. You know the fear of being buried alive underground. You know the humiliation of body searches and being treated like worthless cattle. You know the loneliness of hostel life, the control of your every move. You know the painful death that comes from inhaling the dust that destroys your lungs, that kills your children when they play in dumps of blue asbestos waste.

Yet it is your sweat and blood that has created the vast wealth that white South Africa enjoys. You dig for diamonds, platinum, gold—the precious metals that adorn the rich. Yet in times of crisis, such as the industry now faces, you are the first to be retrenched. In the recent past sixty thousand workers have lost their jobs. Thousands more are threatened. …

But the crisis in the mining industry is not the only one facing us. The violence ravaging our country is of such proportions that we have presented the government with a set of demands and a deadline date of May 9, or else we will not proceed with the planned all-party congress nor hold any discussions on the future constitution for South Africa. There is also the April 30 deadline date agreed to in terms of the Pretoria Minute affecting the release of political prisoners and return of exiles.

It goes without saying that those of us who have spent so many wasted, lonely years in apartheid’s prisons, and who have been released, have a special obligation and concern for the thousands of political prisoners still behind bars. …

I would like to spend a little time discussing with you our perspective of the violence and why we found it necessary to put demands before the government, including the dismissal of ministers Vlok and Malan.

The violence is designed to create division among the African people, especially between Zulu and Xhosa, hostel dweller and township resident. Mine workers have a very important role to play in defusing the tensions. Hostels have been identified as sources of violence, where guns are kept and weapons training takes place. This violence only serves to enslave us, turning brother against brother while white South Africa pretends to stand above the conflict. It presents the picture that South Africa can only know stability and prosperity with whites in control.

We call on all of you to organize in the hostels. Act together with the township residents to isolate those who bring death and destruction. Isolate the vigilantes, and act against the levies for the purchase of weapons. Refuse to be part of Pretoria’s plans to decimate our people and your organization, the ANC. Expose, for all the world to see, the role of the warlords and who they serve. You can help bring an end to this bloodletting, which threatens the very future of our country. …

We have entered negotiations so that our country can know peace and freedom. The purpose of these negotiations is to ensure that we emerge with a democratic government, a new constitution, and a country which is governed by the people, for the people. We demand our rightful place in the land of our birth. We want one person, one vote in a united, nonracial, and democratic South Africa. …

The ANC national conference is a few weeks away. Delegates from across the country, representing hundreds of thousands of people, will gather in Durban in the first week of July. We hope that there will be a strong delegation from branches of the ANC that are in the mines. We want your views, your demands, and your interests to also inform our discussions and decisions. You have a major role to play in our attempts to create a country and a future where democratic practice is the norm and the rights of working people are respected. We want a national culture of respect for each other, for our customs and traditions, for our different skin colors and religions. We want this not only in law but in the very fabric of our society.

You are the motor force of our great country. Your congress has taken important decisions for the future of the whole industry, and therefore for the whole country. I want to appeal to those who control the mining industry to listen to your decisions and be prepared to engage with you in the process of restructuring the industry for the sake of the future of all our people. The challenges facing us are enormous, but acting in unity we can succeed and achieve our goals.

Long live the National Union of Mineworkers!

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