The 16th of August 2012, has inscribed a never to be forgotten 'moment' in the history of postapartheid
South Africa when the South African Police Service (SAPS) opened fire on striking Lonmin
(Pic) mine workers, killing 34 and injuring 78 in Marikana, North West Province. The workers were
part of an unprecedented strike wave on the platinum belt, which had begun at Impala Platinum
Holdings (Implats) at the beginning of 2012, spread to Lonmin that August and to Anglo American
Platinum (Am plats) in September. At the heart ofthe strikes was the demand for a 'living wage'- a
clarion call that would be taken up by workers at other platinum mines, the gold, coal, transport and
agriculture sectors and for a short while left the country in political and economic turmoil .This
platinum belt strike wave was not led by the unions but by workers themselves. Workers
emphatically refused to be represented by their unions and opted to form alternative structures of
representation called the independent workers committees.
This thesis examines these structures and the deadly contestation over representation that
developed. It analyses the driving forces behind these committees, why they were formed, how
they were formed and how they managed to self-organise, mobilise the mine workers, and engage
directly in negotiations with management. This thesis argues, that a close examination of the
workers committees is seminal to understanding the current nature of the South African working
class and whether it is reasserting democratic control over trade union organisation, and whether
the workers' committees represent a challenge to the corporatist arrangements that have
underpinned the post-apartheid 'social contract' between labour and capital mediated through the
state, since 1994.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15907 |
| Date | 05 December 2014 |
| Creators | Ntswana, Nyonde |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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