[SOUTH AFRICA] SALUTE FROM THE WIVP TO THE ACT IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN ARGENTINA

SALUTE FROM THE WIVP FROM SOUTH AFRICA

TO THE ACT IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN ARGENTINA

We salute the TPR and other organizations and workers in Argentina for taking up the struggle so quickly, this is true internationalism.

Dear Comrades and friends

We thank you for organizing this protest at such short notice. Such acts of international solidarity, irrespective of the numbers, are very important for the working class in South Africa. We have always asserted that we are all part of the international proletariat and that there can never be Socialism in one country. On the contrary, our fate is interconnected with the fate of the working class in the imperialist centers.

Your protest is very important as it is an act of courage that gives support to the brutalized workers at Marikana mine. It sends a message to them that they are not alone, that all over the world, there are like-minded masses who refuse to buckle to the dictates of capitalist exploitation.

On monday 20th August, the striking mineworkers faced yet another ultimatum for them to return to work today or face dismissal. The blood of the slaughtered is scarcely cold, their leaders killed or in prison but for the Lonmin capitalists, it is business as usual.  Very few workers returned- more than 20 000 are still out on strike and yesterday another Platinum mine, the Royal Bafokeng mine (really a front for Anlo American and JP Morgan Chase), came out on strike, demanding a wage of R12500  (100% increase). They all resigned from NUM and elected their own committee- a strike committee and not a union committee. Every year mineworkers die in the mines in SA and across the world. Working underground is like a death sentence in itself. yet while the Platinum price has increased by 300%, workers wages remain rock bottom. These companies like Lonmin and Anglo American, have a track record of stealing the wealth from Africa- every year they rape from Africa trillions of dollars of wealth. Through transfer pricing (understating the value of exports) these monopolies take out $80 bn from SA alone, every year (the overall figure is much higher if we consider the declared and undeclared profits as well). The masses are facing an ongoing massacre under capitalism.

The custodians of big capital and of the ongoing massacre are the Mandela's, Zuma's, Slovo's of the ANC and SACP. The Commissioner of Police, Riah Phiyega is on record speaking to the police who carried out the massacre, that they should not feel guilty for a job well done. She attended the funeral of one of the policemen killed in the strike- no concern at all for the mineworkers or their families or for any workers killed or for the many that are still missing. The General Secretary of the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers), Frans Baleni, urged the police to shoot the strikers: 'Andried Tatane was killed. And in this case they don't act?'.

Such is the callousness of the ANC regime and the tripartite alliance of the ANC-SACP-Cosatu; this is the real legacy of Mandela. This is what we were saying before 1994, that the ANC would betray the masses, that they are pro-capitalist.

One of the grandmothers of a worker who was killed by the regime had this to say:

'Today we do not have a government- the government are the killers. These mines belong to us, all the owners (the capitalists) must leave. this is where our struggle starts. we will continue to fight until those who killed our sons bring them back to life.'

We salute you for your actions and will ensure that news of this solidarity is taken into Marikana, to the workers. We call on you to set up a solidarity committee (We are all Marikana strikers) to co-ordinate in the next period for future solidarity actions on this struggle.

Workers of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our chains! We have a world to win.

Forward to rebuilding a revolutionary International (which for us means refounding the Fourth International)!

Forward to Socialism!

--

Shaheed Mahomed

Workers International Vanguard Party

(formerly Workers International Vanguard League)

1st Floor, Community House

41 Salt River rd

Salt River

South Africa

7925

ph 0822020617

ph [27] 21 4476777

fax 0865486048

workersinternational@gmail.com

web www.workersinternational.org.za