Volume 9, No.5 - December 2000

15 Years of Heroic Struggle

COSATU's huge role

When COSATU held its founding Congress in 1985, Thapelo 'Shadow' Mahlong had already been an active trade unionist for some years. He remembers that the founding of COSATU had a big impact on the workers.

"A giant federation was being formed and this did not augur well with the apartheid regime and its puppets in the homelands. "The regime attempted to make it appear as a non-event, but to the people of South Africa and workers in particular, the formation of this giant progressive federation was a boost to their morale at a time of huge struggle, when the townships were on fire, when the apartheid regime could no longer claim to be having control of the country. Their response was sheer brutality, typical of dying dictatorships.

COSATU played a huge role in the liberation struggle. From its inception it understood that the worker struggle cannot be isolated from the whole general struggle for liberation. Its leaders together with those of its alliance partners in the UDF, were harassed, arrested, some were killed, and its offices were bombed.

"The government brought in the Labour Relations Act to try to suffocate the trade unions and created counter federations like UWUSA. COSATU members were killed and others arrested and spent months in prison. But the organisation kept going forward, working closely with the United Democratic Front (UDF), churches, youth and student organisations. The government wanted to ban COSATU and the UDF, but it could not go through with it. It would have been the last straw."

Shadow became a trade unionist in his first job after matriculating in 1981, at Standard Telephone and Cables (STC) in Boksburg. He was a member of MAWU, an affiliate of FOSATU, COSATU's forerunner. They were forced to work underground, as it was not recognised by the bosses then and union members were instantly dismissed. That was why he could not attend COSATU's founding Congress.

He was also a South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) activist and in 1986 he was arrested under the State of Emergency Regulations and spent 17 months in jail. On his release he was sacked by STC because of his political involvement. He then worked as a volunteer organiser for CCAWUSAthe forerunner of SACCAWU, in its Germiston office. That is where he first developed his typing skills, using an old typewriter for writing reports.

Then in 1989, Shadow was employed by COSATU as a South Sotho translator for the federation's newsletter, Cosatu News, in the media department. He went on to study computer technology and worked on the Metric Project, funded by the Italian trade union federation, the CGIL, which provided computers to COSATU and its affiliates. He is now COSATU's Computer Support Manager. In the early days at COSATU, life was not easy. Shadow remembers: "Just before I joined here in 1989,

COSATU offices in Jeppe Street were bombed. And one day, police surrounded the new offices and spent the whole day searching, cupboard-by-cupboard, file-by-file, taking pictures of individuals. Nobody could get in or out. At the end of the day many documents and leaders were taken away - Jay Naidoo and Sydney Mufamadi, but they soon released them, as the regime contemplated the workers' anger.

"On the eve of the release of the Rivonia trialists, I was working with Dirk Hartford, Marlene Powell and the late Eunice Khumalo in the media department. Together with The Other Press Service (TOPS), a progressive media service, we produced a poster with an artist's image of Nelson Mandela, something that was illegal then.

"By the morning it was all over town and published in the progressive newspaper, the New Nation. The police called us 'media terrorists' and tried to find out where the posters came from. The next day saw the biggest march of the defiance campaign and Madiba's image on thousands of posters carried by marchers. The apartheid regime wanted people to forget about Madiba and I think we irritated them very badly".

"Just after I started, COSATU held its Third National Congress. I was given a responsibility for the security of the congress and I had to organise marshals. It was not an easy task, I tell you. At those congresses, there were robust debates, around the politics, the Freedom Charter, socialism and other socio-economic issues.

"The delegates were divided into two camps, the workerists and populists. These debates and having to work closely with comrades like, amongst others, Sydney Mufamadi, Chris Dlamini, Jay Naidoo, Mbhazima Shilowa, Khetsi Lehoko, Kenny Fihla, and the late Sam Ntuli, helped refine my politics". Summing up 15 years of COSATU, Shadow says:

"COSATU played a prominent role in the struggle of the people of South Africa and it also led and won many battles for workers of this country. It continues to play a role in the transformation process for a better life for all".