BHEKI NTSHALINTSHALI
THE news of the sudden and unexpected passing away of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) central executive committee (CEC) member and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) General Secretary David Kolekile Sipunzi struck many of us in the trade union movement like a bolt of lightning.
Even in a year that has seen many of our comrades and members lose their lives, this one cuts deep.
Our heartfelt condolences go to his family, colleagues and his friends.
Sipunzi was a veteran of the trade union movement, having started working for Harmony Gold in 1985 and joined the National Union of Mineworkers the same year.
He became an NUM Shaft Steward in 1986 and in 1987 he was elected the NUM Shaft deputy secretary.
In 1991, Sipunzi was elected the NUM Free State Deputy Regional Secretary.
In 1993, he was elected the NUM Deputy Branch Secretary and in 1996, Sipunzi was elected as the Branch Secretary.
In 1999, he was elected as the NUM Free State Regional Secretary until he was elected as the NUM General Secretary at the NUM 15th National Congress at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg in 2015.
He was re-elected as the NUM General Secretary (GS) at the NUM 16th National Congress at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg in June 2018.
As a CEC member of the Federation, he will always be remembered as a stickler for the rules, who fought tirelessly for his beliefs.
He always insisted that worker control should be at the centre of every decision-making in the federation and in the trade union movement in general.
There can be no doubt that he played a huge role in the stabilisation of both the NUM and the Federation after some brief period of turmoil and upheaval for the two organisations.
He was a forthright and principled character who never minced his words, but the organisation always came first.
He took over the leadership of the NUM at a very difficult time in the mining sector, when employers were on the offensive and distinguished himself for his bravery, sincerity, and audacity.
In his role as national leader in the Federation, he was a remarkable trade unionist who campaigned tirelessly against oppression and exploitation.
He was part of a generation of militant and sophisticated cadre of leadership of the federation that contributed immensely to its growth and survival in the last 35 years.
He was tirelessly working hard to take the trade union movement to the next level and was ceased with the task of helping it navigate the indeterminate future facing the working class.
He strongly believed that the principle of worker control was the safeguard that was going to guarantee the future of federation.
We will forever remember him as one of the principled leaders of the trade union movement who never minced his words but was never a populist and always subjected himself to democratic centralism.
It was a privilege to campaign and fight alongside Sipunzi because he was fearless.
He managed to reflect and symbolise that undefinable concept of being a radical through his actions.
He championed his strong belief that to undo the exploitative system of power, you needed to use the tools of disruption and non-cooperation and obstruction strategically and tactically.
He understood that sitting down and doing nothing amounted to accepting death sentence from the political and business elite.
He disregarded the prescripts of political tribalism and never succumbed to political puritanism.
He was combative and comradely at the same time.
While he was a tough no-nonsense leader of NUM who always did his bets for his membership, he was also a unifying figure who always extended a hand of unity to all other unions in the mining sector and where NUM was organised.
He worked closely with all other unions in the sector to deal with issues like health and safety and collective bargaining.
He and his collective understood the mining sector and never succumbed to the temptation of taking workers on meaningless adventures and unnecessary strikes that were going to be costly to the workers bottom line.
He strongly believed in the self-sufficiency of our organisations and the principle of paid-up membership. Even under difficult circumstances, the NUM under his leadership never failed to pay its subscriptions to COSATU on time.
He was an avowed internationalist who unapologetically championed the internationalism that the NUM was founded on.
He was tasked with the responsibility of driving the process of implementing the resolution of the affiliation of the federation to the World Federation of Trade Unions. He understood and embraced the principle of building trade unions in Africa.
He championed that campaign actively and enthusiastically.
He served as the Vice President of the WFTU and a member of the WFTU Presidential Council; and a member of the IndustriALL Global Union Executive Committee.
He also continued with the NUM and COSATU tradition of building the Alliance and fighting against political degeneracy, wherever it arose.
The working class remains deeply indebted to Cde David Sipunzi for his immense contribution to the struggle for its emancipation.
The Federation has taken a big hit and the working class has lost one of its passionate and fearless defenders and advocates.
May his soul rest in peace!
- (Bheki Ntshalintshali is COSATU’s General Secretary)
