One-time friends, divided by loyalty, make final journey home

Slain Northam Platinum Zondereinde mineworkers Mthetheleli Somaxhama and Thembinkosi Mhlabeni had much in common. Both hailed from the Eastern Cape. They did the same job: operating machinery at the mine’s stope face underground, where platinum is extracted from the rock. For this, they were each paid about R10 000 a month. Both were active in organising their fellow workers: one as the deputy chair of a hostel committee, the other as what colleagues described as one of the most loyal union members at the mine.

The major difference is that their loyalty was given to two different unions: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

This week, workers at Northam Platinum who had gathered for Somaxhama’s memorial service said the two dead men were once good friends — as many migrant workers from the Eastern Cape often are.

Despite the mine being in a pre- dominantly Setswana-speaking area, most of the 600 workers attending Somaxhama’s memorial service spoke in isiXhosa and said they would accompany his body to the former Transkei, where he will be buried.

Addressing the service held at the mine’s stadium, Somaxhama’s brother said they had both been warned they were in the firing line.

“We are praying for this violence to stop, but we know this is not over,” Mthanjelwa Ndziba said from the podium.

He appealed to fellow Eastern Cape workers to keep the peace, urging them to consider how much unites Amcu and NUM supporters.

“Even if you are not NUM, you are also from Eastern Cape. We come from far away to work, away from our families. Why must we kill each other when we arrive here at the mine? The family at home wants us to meet, as migrant workers, and resolve the fight,” he said.

The tensions between rival unions that seemingly started between NUM and Amcu members in the mine’s hostels are now also affecting nonunionised members.

Northam Platinum’s Ncedisa Maqoma said she hopes employee relations at the mine will be mended in the aftermath of the killings.

The men’s bodies will both be transported from the mine to the Eastern Cape by road. Though they will follow the same route, the two former friends will make their last journeys in two separate convoys: one led by the NUM, the other by Amcu. —