Organise or Starve! The Inaugural Conference of SACTU

Organise or Starve! The Inaugural Conference of SACTU

On 4 – 5 March 1955, the Inaugural Conference of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was held at the Trades Hall in Johannesburg. At that time, SACTU was, until the banning of political organisations in 1961, the leading non-racial trade union co-ordinating body and the trade union wing of the Congress Alliance. After Sharpeville most of the office bearers of SACTU went into exile, were banned, banished, imprisoned for African National Congress (ANC) and the People’s Army, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), activities. SACTU office bearers in exile re-established the organisation and used it towards mobilising international solidarity action against the apartheid regime.

In October 1954, right wing trade unions walked out of the South African Trades and Labour Council (SATLC) conference held in Durban to form the exclusive White, Indian and so-called Coloured workers’ Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA), which denied membership to Black workers. Nineteen trade unions objected to the formation of TUCSA. The remaining non-racial trade unions decided to set up a Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee, which had a meeting with the Council of Non-European Trade Unions (CNETU) that led to the formation of SACTU in March 1955.

Apart from racial intolerance by White trade unions, the government also passed repressive legislation that made it imperative for Black workers to organise workers across the colour line. African trade unions were free to operate but were not legally recognised by the state. The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), appointed by the National Party government, called for the regulation and tighter control of Black trade unions by introducing registration and certification. The IRC also denied Black trade unions the right to join political organisations.

In 1953 the government announced the Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act in an attempt to control trade unions. This Act was followed by the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1956, which was strongly challenged by SACTU. This Act removed African workers from the officially recognised and state regulated trade union system. This Act also promoted racial division in the trade unions, as it banned the registration of the multi-racial trade unions, and the existing ones were divided along racial lines. African workers who were the main victims of this Act felt that the only option left open to them was to defy it.

SACTU’s first conference in 1956 proclaimed that the fights for economic and political rights were one and the same. It explicitly campaigned against the Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act of 1953 and urged members to have nothing to do with the Native Labour Officials established by it. SACTU organised factory “cells” which studied Marxist ideology as well as organising techniques.

SACTU organised a campaign for a national minimum wage of £1 (R2) a day in 1957, with the South African Railways and Harbours Union (SARHU) becoming the central focus of the crusade. In December 1962 the organisation was one of 36 organisations listed in a government proclamation under which 432 people were banned from holding office in any of those organisations, including 45 officials of SACTU and its affiliates. Although the organisation was not officially banned, it continued to operate clandestinely, and it got some financial support from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITWF) and managed to produce a journal called “Workers’ Unity”.

As indicated previously, most SACTU office bearers were exiled, banned, banished or imprisoned for ANC and MK activities, following the Sharpeville Massacre. Those office bearers who went into exile re-established the organisation and used it to mobilise international solidarity against the apartheid regime. The organisation therefore had a vital role to play in ensuring that the principles upon which it was founded continued to inspire and give direction to the expanding forces of trade unionism inside the country. It therefore pursued the basic needs of the working class, such as higher wages, improved working and health conditions in factories, mines, plants and all employment institutions, and furthermore the pursuit of democratic rights for the people and for majority rule in South Africa.

As opposed to TUCSA, SACTU’s policy was to promote the formation of progressive and democratic industrial trade unions, as well as to champion trade union unity. Moreover, SACTU supported the formation of a trade union centre, which was also to be linked with the cause of liberation against the apartheid regime. It therefore supported all attempts to bring about unity on the basis of a united platform against the apartheid regime for the legitimate demands and needs of the workers.

From 1973 there was a revival of industrial militancy, especially following the massive Durban strikes, and this development revived the progressive non-racial trade union movement. SACTU stood firmly in support of the leaders of the democratic trade unions, who, in defiance of police harassment, detention and imprisonment, and were steadfast in refusing to waver in the struggle for freedom and social justice. With the unbanning of political organisations in 1990, SACTU decided to disband and some of its leadership was absorbed into the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

During the 30th Anniversary of SACTU, in March 1985, the then General Secretary of the organisation, John Nkadimeng, saluted and paid “tribute to the many gallant working class fighters who have made the supreme sacrifice during the course of the struggle. We recall the names of stalwarts of SACTU like Looksmart Solwandle Ngudle, Lawrence Ndzanga, Elijah Loza and Alpheus Madiba, all of whom died in the hands of the racist regime’s torturers.”

Furthermore, Nkadimeng reiterated that “We dip our banners in memory of William Khanyile, who was murdered by the racists at Matola in January 1981. We remember Zola Nqini, Phakamile Mpongoshe, Gene Gugushe and many others who were butchered in Maseru in December 1982. We also remember, on this day, the death in detention of trade unionists like Dr Neil Aggett, and the mysterious death of Joe Mavi, the President of the Municipal and General Workers’ Union of South Africa” (Sechaba, March 1985).

“Organise or Starve!”
“An Injury to One is an Injury to All!”

Sources:
Wikipedia.
South African History Archives (SAHA).
South African History Online (SAHO).
John Nkadimeng, “SACTU Celebrates its 30th Anniversary”, Sechaba, March 1985.
R.S. Nyameko, “SACTU Celebrates its 30th Birthday”, The African Communist, No. 100, First Quarter 1985.

Castro Khwela
Good day fellow Compatriots!