(Courtesy SA Institute of Race Relations - 1981)
(THE DAYS OF THE STRUGGLE BY WORKERS IN 1980)
One of the trade union leaders who played a major
role in mobilising and highlighting the plight of workers in the 1970s and
early 1980s was Jospeh Zenzele Mavi.
He died tragically in a motor accident in June 1982
at the young age of 44 while he and some colleagues were returning home to
Johannesburg after attending to union work in Port Elizabeth. Soon after his tragic death, the Press Trust
of SA Third World News Agency published an article about his life and work on
June 14 1981.
The article, “Tragic death of black trade union
leader, Joseph Mavi”, brought to light the immense contribution that Mavi had made
for the freedom of ordinary workers.
TRAGIC DEATH OF BLACK TRADE UNION LEADER – JOSEPH
MAVI
June 14 1982
The recent tragic death of one of South Africa’s most
prominent black trade unionists, Mr Joseph Mavi, has left a huge void in the
independent trade union movement that will be difficult to fill.
Mr Mavi, the 44-year-old president of the Black
Municipality Workers Union, died in a motor accident on Wednesday, June 9,
while on his way home in Johannesburg after completing union work in Port
Elizabeth.
A spokesperson for his union told the independent
Press Trust of South Africa news agency that Mr Mavi died instantly when the
car in which he was travelling overturned in the province of the Orange Free
State. Two other colleagues with him were slightly injured.
Although there are no exact details as to how the
accident occurred, it is understood the driver of the vehicle fell asleep at
the wheel. Reports from the scene say there are large rubber marks on the road
which indicated that the car could have skidded off the road.
Mr Mavi, a soft-spoken person and gentle in
character, first rose to prominence only in early 1980 when he led more than 10 000
black municipal workers against the decision by the all-white Johannesburg City
Council not to recognise their trade union.
Ironically, the clash between the union and the city council had its
origins in the conservative confines of the Trade Union Council of South Africa
(TUCSA) – the white-dominated union federation that toes the Pretoria
Government line.
At that time Mr Mavi, a bus driver, was the leader of
the African Transport Workers Union which was a “parallel union” for Africans
only in terms of TUCSA’s constitution.
But the parting of the ways with the TUCSA began when
the white general secretary of TUCSA, Mr Arthur Grobelaar, prevented Mr Mavi
from voting on a motion that condemned the Pretoria Government’s track record
on human rights.
This action greatly frustrated him and he immediately
set about organising a black trade union independent of TUCSA.
His final break from TUCSA occurred in 1980 when the
white-dominated federation fully supported the Johannesburg City Council in the
establishment of an “house union” in preference to the fledgeling union started
by Mr Mavi.
Mr Mavi vigorously opposed the new union, claiming
that as an “in house union” it was not representative of the majority of the
black municipal workers. He withdrew his union from TUCSA immediately after
publicly stating that TUCSA, by supporting the council’s “in house union”, did
not have the interests of the workers at heart.
BLACK MUNICIPALITY WORKERS UNION
He then formally established the Black Municipality
Workers Union and in no time had more than 10 000 members on the books of
the union.
In contrast, the “house union” only had 140 members.
On the strength of this fact he appealed to the white
city council to recognise his union. But the city council turned down his
request with contempt and issued an official statement, saying it would only
recognise the “house union”.
When the council’s refusal became known, hundreds of
workers at the Orlando Power station took the first steps in downing tools – an
action that was to develop into one of the biggest strikes in the history of
South Africa against a single employer. At the end of the first two days, 10 000
workers were officially out on strike.
The success of the strike was primarily due to the
untiring work of Mr Mavi. He was reported to have awakened everyday at about
3:30am and, with an handkerchief in one hand, walked the length and breadth of
the compounds and single-sex hostels urging workers to join the strike.
JACK BOOT POLICE
But the jack-boot South African police moved in, with
the tacit support of the city council, and began breaking up the strike. Within
a week they rounded up hundreds of “migrant workers” and forcibly shipped them
back to the bantustans. Those who resisted the police were baton-charged, arrested
and thrown into jails.
During this period of police action, Mr Mavi went
underground to continue with his leadership. He donned a miner’s uniform and
met his executive at the most inconvenient places. It is understood that
meetings were sometimes held in a central park in Johannesburg in full view of
hundreds of passers-by.
In order to prevent the forced “bussing” of his
members to the bantustans, he applied to the Rand Supreme Court in Johannesburg
for an injunction against the action. But while making a personal application
with his attorneys, he was detained in the corridors of the Supreme Court and
held under the country’s security laws.
DETAINED AND CHARGED WITH SABOTAGE
After being detained for more than five months, he
was released and subsequently charged with sabotage. But, after nearly a year,
the charges were dropped and Mr Mavi returned to his trade union work.
In addition to his union activities, he also held the
centre stage in community politics. During the Anti-Republic campaigns he
addressed a number of meetings and earned the wrath of the security police.
He was detained for about three months and held in
solitary confinement. He was released on compassionate grounds after the death
of his one-month-old daughter.
In recent times he devoted most of his time in
organising his union and its membership and it was during his travels on union
work that he met his untimely death.
SECURITY POLICE AT HIS FUNERAL
But even in death the South African security police
would noy leave him in peace. When thousands of mourners attended his funeral
and two members of the African National Congress in Johannesburg, the security
police arrested about 200 people and disturbed the service.
Mr Mavi had come a long way from a little village in
the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa where he was
born in 1938. He moved to Johannesburg as a migrant worker after completing his
matriculation. Here in Johannesburg he held a number of jobs that encouraged
him to move into trade union and political activism in 1970. Ends – Press Trust
of SA News Agency June 14 1982
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