DON'T LET HANG THIS LABOR LEADER.

Moses Mayekiso General Secretary National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa Even the headquarters of South African labor THE DEATH unions are not safe­ here the Security PENALTY Forces stage a raid on the offices of the Con­ FOR COMMUNITY gress of South African ORGANIZING? Trade Unions.

S outh Africa's apartheid government against the town council to encour­ may execute-by hanging-one of aging the South African police and that nation's leading black trade security forces to leave the unionists-Moses Mayekiso-a township. former autoworker who has been The removal of Moses Mayekiso is charged with treason. a naked attempt to weaken South After his June, 1986, arrest when Africa's black trade unions, which in he returned to the Johannesburg recent years have emerged as the airport from trade union meetings in key force opposing the repressive Europe, Moses was confmed in white-minority regime. prison even though no charges had If Moses hangs-or even if he is been filed against him. Finally in jailed indefinitely-South Africa's April, 1987, the other shoe fell on black unions would suffer a severe him: Moses Mayekiso, his brother setback. So would local community and three others were formally groups, students, church activists charged with treason, sedition and and many others in the forefront of subversion. the anti-apartheid movement. Mayekiso is the General Secretary That's why the UAW has launched of the National Union of Metalwork­ a campaign in the to ers of South Africa (NUMSA). focus maximum international pres· The charges focus on community sure on behalf of freedom for Moses organizing activities in the black Mayekiso and the four others township of Alexandra outside Jo­ charged in his case: Paul Tshaba­ hannesburg-ranging from organiz­ lala, Richard Mdakane, Obed ing rent and consumer boycotts Bapela and Mzwanele Mayekiso. WHO IS MOSES MAYEKISO?

M oses Mayekiso is a former auto· worker who today holds the top po· sition in the second largest trade union in the most heavily industrial­ ized nation in all of Africa: he is General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. Moses was born 38 years ago not far from Cape Town in South Afri­ ca's Cape Province. As a young man he became a migrant worker in the gold mines to the north, living after work each day in the harsh, prison­ like conditions of the male-only hostels. Mayekiso joined the Metal and Al­ lied Workers Union, now part of the larger NUMSA, after going to work in an auto parts plant. Like so many of South African Trade Unions-a of the men and women who lead militant, 700,000-member-strong America's major labor unions today, federation of black trade unions­ Moses promptly became a union ac­ and carried the fight for justice into tivist, confronting managers accus­ the black township of Alexandra tomed to exploiting the black work­ where he lived with his wife and force with impunity. seven children. Through MA WU, Moses helped When South Africa declared its pioneer the democratic, shop-floor­ State of Emergency on June 12, based trade unionism now wide­ 1986, Mayekiso was meeting with spread in South Africa. After a ma· unionists in . The white mi­ jor "stayaway" strike in 1984, he nority government refused to renew was arrested and kept in solitary his passport, which expired June confinement at the notorious John 14, in an attempt to force one of Vorster Square prison. Twice again South Africa's key black labor lead­ in 1985 the apartheid government ers into exile. jailed him-each time being eventu· Instead, Mayekiso flew home to ally forced to drop charges and re­ South Africa soonafter-where he lease him. was immediately jailed. He has been Mayekiso helped draft the consti­ without his freedom for more than a tution in late 1985 of the Congress year. WHAT ARE This is how the South THE CHARGES African police treat AGAINST labor leaders: Moses Mayekiso being placed MOSES? under arrest in 1986.

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H aving been charged with treason, se· from the white-minority govern· dition and subversion, Moses May· ment, which has occupied a number ekiso and the four others specifi­ of the black townships with South cally are accused of forming a Mrican police and security forces. "residents' committee" which the The government now seeks to South African government claims make an example of Alexandra by undermined the existing government prosecuting Mayekiso and his fellow administrative and judicial authority community activists-punishing its in Alexandra. residents for the organization of The white-minority government non-violent community structures­ alleges that Mayekiso's activities in hopes of discouraging the growth harmed the authority of govern· of similar civic groups elsewhere. ment-and, accordingly, amount to Black unions, such as NUMSA, treason. say it is the duty of their members The fact is that throughout South to fight for justice in their Africa residents of black townships communities. increasingly have become dissatis· In a civilized , such fied with the inability of the local community organizing activities governmental structures empowered hardly would constitute "crimes"­ by the apartheid government to deal and certainly none for which the with deteriorating sanitation and death penalty could be imposed. health problems, declining housing But South Mrica, as we are re· conditions, crime and other issues. minded every day by events occur· Strong civic organizations formed ring there, is a far cry from being a as alternatives to these town coun· civilized democracy. cils have evoked violent reactions South African metal­ workers celebrate the consolidation of their unions early in 1987 HOW CAN into the National Union of Metalworkers of WE HELP South Af rica , electing Mos es Mayekiso as MOSES their first General MAYEKISO? Secretary.

T he UAW has launched a nationwide paign has resulted in trade union postcard campaign on behalf of prisoners winning their freedom. Mayekiso. The cards demand his UAW President Owen Bieber has freedom and are being sent to the convened a committee of prominent South African ambassador to the American judges and attorneys who United States in Washington, D.C. will be monitoring the legal develop­ You can obtain a package of these ments in the Mayekiso case. We postcards by writing to the UA W's hope to send one or more of these Governmental and International Af. highly respected jurists to South Af. fairs Department at 1757 N Street rica to witness as much of the trial N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. as possible. Better yet, you can write directly The UAW is working closely with to Ambassador Dr. Pieter G.J. human rights groups -such as the Koornhof at the Embassy of South Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Africa, 3051 Massachusetts Avenue Under Law, Amnesty International, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20008. In the Lawyers Committee for Human your own words, demand that May· Rights and the International Human ekiso and the other political pris­ Rights Law Group- and you may oners be released. wish to contact one of these Many times in the past, interna­ organizations. tional pressure such as this cam- UAW President Owen Bieber led several hundred rank-and-file UAW members at a "Free Moses" demon­ WHY IS THE stration last spring in UAW INVOLVED front of the South African Embassy in IN THIS CASE? Washington .

T he UAW has a long history of sup· The Moses Mayekiso case is cru­ porting the struggle of black work­ cial to the UAW because it is a ers not only in North America but frontal assault by the South African in South Africa in the fight against authorities on the black trade apartheid. unions-precisely when they have Our union consistently has emerged as the strongest grassroots helped the independent black trade force confronting the outrages of unions, particularly those in the au­ apartheid. tomobile and metalworking sectors. These unions in South Africa are American corporations for many standing up to injustices not only in years have operated subsidiaries in the workplace but in the communi­ South Africa-and the UAW has in­ ties where their members live. tervened with U.S. management Moses Mayekiso has been isolated here on a number of occasions for trial because he is a leader in when requested to do so by the his union and in his community. black unions involved in bargaining As Moses faces the possibility of disputes and other problems. a death sentence, the UAW believes The UA W's work is part of a it is impossible to ignore the issues broader international campaign for and principles at stake. Any further Mayekiso's freedom being waged by injury to Moses Mayekiso immedi­ the International Metalworkers ately becomes an injury to us all. Federation-a trade union secre­ As UAW rank-and-file demon­ tariat based in . Both strators at the South African em­ the UAW and Mayekiso's union be­ bassy in Washington called out sev­ long to the IMF, which has a UAW eral months ago in protest of member, Herman Rebhan, as its Moses' indictment, "None of us is General Secretary. free-until all of us are free!!"

·-e.· THE REALITY OF THE APARTHEID SYSTEM IN SOUTH AFRICA

T oday there are 33 million people who live in South Africa. Among them, less than 15 percent possess But the reality of apartheid in· full rights of citizenship: these have cludes these stark statistics: been reserved for the 4.8 million white citizens. • The land distribution under law is Because of the color of their skin, a perverse flip-flop of the popula­ more than 28 million black South tion numbers: 13 percent of the Africans effectively have no political land has been reserved for black power and are subjected to controls South Africans, while 87 percent of which restrict where they can be the land belongs to the whites. born, where they can live, go to school, work and be buried after • Many anti-apartheid activists are they die. This is the reality of the being detained for lengthy periods apartheid system. or arrested and charged under ex· The domestic and international is ting security laws for petty of· pressures on that system to dissolve fenses in response to political itself increase almost daily. Boy· actions. cotts, massive demonstrations and strikes have been sweeping the • For the numerous detainees, tor­ country for several years. lnterna· ture and death have been well-docu­ tional economic and diplomatic mented practices by the govern· pressure on the white-minority gov· ment's police and military for many ernment also has grown. years. Their methods include elec· Accordingly, this government has tric shock, beatings, whippings by modified a few existing apartheid the dreaded "sjambok," isolation laws-without dismantling the basic and sleep deprivation. structure of apartheid. Essentially, they continue to ignore the demands • The average daily prison popula· of black South Africans for majority tion recently was nearly 115,000- rule in a united, democratic and more than 10 times the per capita non-racial South Africa. prison population in the U.S. I~

Young So.uth Africans behind afence which separates them from the white community of Johannesburg.