Saftu calls on government to employ ‘zama zamas’

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has called on the government to legalise and regulate “zama zamas” to stem the death rate of illegal miners underground.

Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the federation’s first national executive committee (NEC) agreed that zama zamas should be regulated and employed.

This way they would be able to make a profit and contribute to the livelihood of their families and the country’s economy.

“The NEC agreed the employment of zama zamas should be decriminalised and these workers should be employed with the same rights as other employees.”

Vavi said most of the zama zamas were former mineworkers and had helped to build Johannesburg into the economic hub of Africa.

“Whether these people are foreigners or not, they see an opportunity. Our role is to organise them into trade unions, our role is to protect them,” Vavi said.

He said the question of economic immigrants was not unique to SA, as more and more desperate people risked being drowned in the ocean while looking for better opportunities in Europe.

Vavi said Saftu would work with the mining union, Amcu, to campaign to stop the current job loss bloodbath.

He gave the example of the possible loss of 1 500 jobs as a result of General Motors’ withdrawal from SA and said this problem had bedevilled the country for years.

As part of the cooperation between the new federation and Amcu, the two would hold a joint fifth anniversary commemoration of the Marikana massacre, when 34 people were shot and killed by police at the Lonmin platinum mine.

The new federation’s deputy general secretary, Moleko Phakedi, reiterated that Saftu would never be affiliated to any political party, but would not be apolitical.

He said a political and ideological commission had been established to start a debate among its affiliates to analyse the current political crisis from the workingclass perspective.

Vavi said Saftu would be establishing its structures at provincial and local level and set up call centres for those who wanted to join its union affiliates.

Saftu has decided to apply for affiliation to the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation.

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