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Johannesburg - Expelled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema has accused President Jacob Zuma of abandoning struggling Aurora mineworkers and helping his nephew buy the mine which is undergoing liquidation.
Malema received a hero’s welcome from about 200 mineworkers who gathered in Springs, east of Johannesburg, to lodge their complaints.
Malema vowed to help the mineworkers get their wages and said he would appoint lawyers to ensure the liquidators of the mine pay wages first before the mine’s creditors.
The miners have not been paid since operations grounded to a halt in March 2010.
Malema hit out at the ANC for allowing poverty and inequality to prevail, saying the situation in the country was worse compared to the living conditions under apartheid.
'If you can’t trust your president, who can you trust?'
He told miners, who had earlier sung the banned rendition of “Dubul’ ibhunu” (Shoot the Boer) when Malema arrived, that when Zuma arrived to address the mineworkers before his nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, had bought the mine, Zuma did not have the interests of mineworkers at heart.
“When President Jacob Zuma came here he left and his nephew came to the mine. He [was] looking for business opportunities to see how [he could] get in. If you can’t trust your president, who can you trust? Everybody is a sell-out,” said Malema to applause.
He accused Zuma of having been bought by white mine owners who donated money to Zuma’s trusts and foundations.
“Why do they pay money? That is a protection fee,” said Malema, intimating that Zuma had been “bought” to keep black people quiet.
“We thought it [life] was going to be better after 1994. We are worse [off than] during the time of apartheid,” said Malema.
He told mineworkers not to retreat on their demands for better salaries and urged them to demand a minimum wage of R12 500 a month.
'The revolution is leaderless'
He gave his blessing for miners from the neighbouring Gold One mine to down tools on Monday in an industrial strike that could cripple the mine.
Mineworkers shouted in agreement when Malema accused other leaders, including the National Union of Mineworkers, of being paid “protection fees” by white business owners.
“These [business] people are very rich. They buy people and give them money. Boers killed the NUM. They bought them with shares. The Boers have hijacked the revolution through the [ANC] leadership.
“The revolution is leaderless. If there was leadership in this country it can’t take four years [to pay mineworkers],” said Malema.
He told workers not to allow white business owners to divide them.
“You must never retreat. You must continue to fight,” said Malema, adding that the mineworkers’ four year struggle against Aurora was nothing compared to the 27 years former president Nelson Mandela spent on Robben Island.
'Enemies of the state'
Malema believed that he and his Friends of the Youth League were now considered “enemies of the state”.
“They want to kill us. We are the enemy of the state, a state we voted for,” said Malema.
He said he didn’t care whether miners belonged to different unions “as long as you are not amagundwane" (a reference to scab labour).
Sipho Myeni, a leader of the mineworkers who invited Malema to address them, introduced Malema as the future president of the ANC, a statement once used by Zuma in praise of Malema.
Mineworker Ayanda Mlingani, 28, who worked as a belt operator at Aurora since 2008, praised Malema for not abusing the stage “to only speak about his [Malema’s] troubles”.
“I salute Malema for offering to help us. But he’s been there with Zuma as friends when things were okay between them. Now he can’t come here and talk about these issues as if he didn’t know, because we will know that he is using us.
“Khulubuse Zuma is Zuma’s nephew and Malema was friends with Zuma. Now that they are not friends he must not use us to get back at Zuma,” said Mlingani.
Before his address, Malema listened attentively to complaints from mineworkers, including women, who have cried about the spate of crime in their community since the mine was shut down.
Mine workers complained about being neglected by the ANC government in their plight to get their money.
They said Aurora only paid them 40% of their pension funds, about R500 each.
Malema last week launched a similar blistering attack on Zuma and his Cabinet when he addressed the memorial service for the 44 people, mostly mineworkers, who died at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West.
Malema received a hero’s welcome from about 200 mineworkers who gathered in Springs, east of Johannesburg, to lodge their complaints.
Malema vowed to help the mineworkers get their wages and said he would appoint lawyers to ensure the liquidators of the mine pay wages first before the mine’s creditors.
The miners have not been paid since operations grounded to a halt in March 2010.
Malema hit out at the ANC for allowing poverty and inequality to prevail, saying the situation in the country was worse compared to the living conditions under apartheid.
'If you can’t trust your president, who can you trust?'
He told miners, who had earlier sung the banned rendition of “Dubul’ ibhunu” (Shoot the Boer) when Malema arrived, that when Zuma arrived to address the mineworkers before his nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, had bought the mine, Zuma did not have the interests of mineworkers at heart.
“When President Jacob Zuma came here he left and his nephew came to the mine. He [was] looking for business opportunities to see how [he could] get in. If you can’t trust your president, who can you trust? Everybody is a sell-out,” said Malema to applause.
He accused Zuma of having been bought by white mine owners who donated money to Zuma’s trusts and foundations.
“Why do they pay money? That is a protection fee,” said Malema, intimating that Zuma had been “bought” to keep black people quiet.
“We thought it [life] was going to be better after 1994. We are worse [off than] during the time of apartheid,” said Malema.
He told mineworkers not to retreat on their demands for better salaries and urged them to demand a minimum wage of R12 500 a month.
'The revolution is leaderless'
He gave his blessing for miners from the neighbouring Gold One mine to down tools on Monday in an industrial strike that could cripple the mine.
Mineworkers shouted in agreement when Malema accused other leaders, including the National Union of Mineworkers, of being paid “protection fees” by white business owners.
“These [business] people are very rich. They buy people and give them money. Boers killed the NUM. They bought them with shares. The Boers have hijacked the revolution through the [ANC] leadership.
“The revolution is leaderless. If there was leadership in this country it can’t take four years [to pay mineworkers],” said Malema.
He told workers not to allow white business owners to divide them.
“You must never retreat. You must continue to fight,” said Malema, adding that the mineworkers’ four year struggle against Aurora was nothing compared to the 27 years former president Nelson Mandela spent on Robben Island.
'Enemies of the state'
Malema believed that he and his Friends of the Youth League were now considered “enemies of the state”.
“They want to kill us. We are the enemy of the state, a state we voted for,” said Malema.
He said he didn’t care whether miners belonged to different unions “as long as you are not amagundwane" (a reference to scab labour).
Sipho Myeni, a leader of the mineworkers who invited Malema to address them, introduced Malema as the future president of the ANC, a statement once used by Zuma in praise of Malema.
Mineworker Ayanda Mlingani, 28, who worked as a belt operator at Aurora since 2008, praised Malema for not abusing the stage “to only speak about his [Malema’s] troubles”.
“I salute Malema for offering to help us. But he’s been there with Zuma as friends when things were okay between them. Now he can’t come here and talk about these issues as if he didn’t know, because we will know that he is using us.
“Khulubuse Zuma is Zuma’s nephew and Malema was friends with Zuma. Now that they are not friends he must not use us to get back at Zuma,” said Mlingani.
Before his address, Malema listened attentively to complaints from mineworkers, including women, who have cried about the spate of crime in their community since the mine was shut down.
Mine workers complained about being neglected by the ANC government in their plight to get their money.
They said Aurora only paid them 40% of their pension funds, about R500 each.
Malema last week launched a similar blistering attack on Zuma and his Cabinet when he addressed the memorial service for the 44 people, mostly mineworkers, who died at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West.
