JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Department of Labour (DoL) registrar’s intention to deregister the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) for failing to hold a congress within the five-year period stipulated by its constitution is politically motivated by a State that has been captured by white monopoly capital, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said during a media briefing on Friday.

DoL registrar Lehlohonolo Daniel Molefe earlier this week confirmed that he would deregister the union if it failed to make submissions to his office within 60 days as a result of the union’s noncompliance with its constitution, its failure to submit information on financial auditing and its failure to hold regular elective conferences.

AMCU is one of the largest trade unions in South Africa's mining industry and has a significant presence in the gold and platinum sectors.

Mathunjwa implied that the timing of the notice was questionable, given the upcoming platinum wage negotiations and the influence AMCU would have as a “genuine, militant trade union” seeking to secure economic emancipation for its members.

He commented that other unions were not threatened with deregistration, despite them also flaunting trade union rules.

When informed by a journalist that 170 other unions have also recently been deregistered, he noted that he was not president of those unions.

Nonetheless, the perception that the registrar is acting incosistenly was echoed by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) in a statement released on Friday. Numsa noted that it, "reject[s] – with the contempt it deserves – that a democratic government, instead of working with the unions to overcome whatever challenges that confront AMCU . . . first stated intention is to come out guns blazing, making its intention clear that it wants to deregister the union."
 
Numsa added that while it agrees that all unions need to be compliant with the DoL’s requirements, it has had experiences where the DoL should have acted on particular affiliates but, "move[d] at a snail’s pace." It stressed that it was not convinced that the DoL has exhausted its options in finding solutions between itself and AMCU.
 
Numsa also stated that the no-nonsense attitude adopted by the DoL against trade unions should be adopted against employers that are "union-bashers", that withtold pay or refuse to pay a living wage and fail to comply with occupational health and safety standards. "The DoL must be consistent in its approach."

Mathunjwa, meanwhile, further contended that the allegation that AMCU had broken the rules by failing to hold a congress was false, adding that the union had had until the end of 2018 to meet the five-year deadline, and that the leadership, which is constitutionally empowered to postpone any event including a congress, had been mandated by it members to postpone the congress to May 2019 to accommodate its new branches.

Mathunjwa told media that a resolution to postpone was passed on October 25. The union informed the registrar of the postponement at the time,  giving him eight months notice, which exceeded the required six months notice.

He pointed out that AMCU’s national executive committee had also, on April 1, decided to postpone the congress again to September 18 to 20, as the protracted strike by its members at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations had impacted on preparations.

Mathunjwa said that union had updated the registrar regarding this change on April 3 but that the registrar had not confirmed receipt of the letter.

Meanwhile, he told the media that the registrar had written to AMCU “at the height of the [Sibanye-Stillwater gold] strike” to ask AMCU to submit details on the delegates attending, as well as the nominees for leadership positions, for the congress, which Mathunjwa insisted was unethical.

In its correspondence with the registrar, AMCU had requested the name of the complainant who called for the deregistration on the basis of its failure to hold a congress, as well as the name of the person requesting delegate and nominee information.

Mathunjwa commented that the registrar had not acknowledged receipt of its correspondence.

He affirmed that AMCU was fully compliant with trade union and its own constitutional rules. He noted that the union would be meeting with the registrar on April 30, adding that he hoped the registrar would “see the light”.

Failing this, AMCU has consulted its lawyers to attend to the matter.