Tuesday, November 10, 2020

JOSEPH ZENZELE MAVI – RECALLING THE LIFE OF A TRADE UNION LEADER WHO DIED TRAGICALLY IN A ROAD ACCIDENT IN 1982 AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 44

 

                                           (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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