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David Maseko Interview with David Maseko David Maseko Abstract David Maseko was born in 1936. This interview dips into his life and his time in the trade unions from the early 1970s until he retired. Maseko was introduced to trade unions through the Urban Training Project (UTP) where workers would gather on Sundays to be trained on trade unionism. Maseko never had the opportunity to go to school. He worked at various factories including Pilkington and Kelloggs, and became a key recruiter of workers into the unions and a chairperson. He skims the history of trade unions from the 1970s, mentions various splits that took place in different trade unions and how the formation of Cosatu brought the different factions together and grew bigger trade unions with the policy of one union one industry. He touches on harassment by the ‘boers’ and the police and how they dealt with this. The document is translated from Zulu to English: Facilitator: This is an interview with Baba David Maseko, we are at Kwa- Thema Springs, the date is 29 June 2010. The interview is done by Brown Maaba. Thanks Baba for making the time to talk to me about unions. Can you please tell me where were you born, raised, your parents, who they were and how did you eventually get involved with unions? Respondent: I was born in Witbank, when we left I was still baby, after birth and came to Springs in Pimville. When I arrived there, I used to herd cattle which belonged to a white man in Pimville. We then moved to the township. From there we moved again to Phelandaba in Kempton Park. I did not go to school, I used to just work for white people, looking after their livestock. My father is David Maseko, I was named after him, my mother’s name is Ntombana Mathunda. 1 of 14 Interview with David Maseko We then left the place again and went to Kempton Park in Thembisa, in a rural community, we returned back to Pimville. I started working at Sappi, I worked, left and got a job at Printing Toll, this company had liaison committees and works committees at the time. The liaison committees and the works committees did not treat us well, I then went to work for UTP (Urban Training Project) in Johannesburg. At UTP this is where we were taught about unions, we were taught by Douwes-Dekker and Eric Taycke they were from Wits. We attended a course whereby we were taught what unions are and how they operate. I came back, I was an organiser, we organised the formation of unions. We were organising everywhere, I was going all over the country, Durban, Cape Town, we were flown all over the place as an organisational drive. The first unions I assisted with forming was the Glass and Allied Workers Union (GAWU), Sweet Food and Allied Workers Union (SFAWU), Building Construction and Allied Workers Union (BCAWU). After the unions were formed, when attending the course, we realised that the government may not approve the unions but if we come up with a federation. Kabini (Calvin Nkabinde?) and Skates Sikhakhane, they went overseas, they had differences on their way back home Facilitator: what were the differences about? Respondent: Skates was saying to Calvin that you will be the secretary and I will be the chairperson, then Calvin said “let the people choose the leaders not us”. They were advanced politically and about unions. Calvin got the unions together after the federation was formed. MAWU used to exist but they went their separate ways, then UMMAWOSA was formed. UMMAWOSA had people like Godongwana, MAWU had Mayekiso and 2 of 14 Interview with David Maseko Alec Erwin and Bernie Fanaroff. We formed FOSATU the federation after that we realised that the government will not accept it. We came back to the table to negotiate, we formed another union, already we knew how to connect with the workers, the majority of the community had no knowledge about unions. There was a community committee called IRAP??, we carried on with it but it did not grow if it had grown we would have been arrested. We then formed SANCO which brought the communities together. There were consumer boycotts, stay aways all that kind of thing. We later realised that FOSATU is not strong enough, then other federations wanted to join, we collected all the federations and had one federations. All the federations were brought together, we had one federation. We now had to meet with people like Ramaphosa, Mufamadi from GAWU, we had to get all the federations. It was difficult to destroy the federations in order to belong to one body. I worked hard, day and night organising and connecting the federations. I managed to get them together. I found Ramaphosa who at the time was under UTP, we got him to join us. MAWU was also part of us now, MAWU (interruption) it was led by Alec Erwin and Bernie Fanaroff, the secretary for Mayekiso. Mayekiso tried to work hard to get Bernie Fanaroff to join the federation. At last .., now we had UMMAWOSA because MAWU was split. UMMAWOSA was led by Zulu and Gogongwana. We realised that the federation we are building, one union, one industry. FAWU and Food and Canning had to be destroyed so that there’s one union. We worked hard. When I was still at UTP, the strongest person was Chris Dlamini, Chris Dlamini was strong in the unions and was also political. After we got hold of Chris Dlamini, he met with Ramaphosa, the unions were becoming stronger on politics. Then there was a problem, we were asking ourselves what would happen 3 of 14 Interview with David Maseko if the federation is taken to ANC, people like Lekota and David came to encourage us to join UDF, I refused. I knew that if the government stamps on them they will also stamp on unions. We asked people to join as individuals not under the umbrella of their union. Independent unions were independent. We knew that if the government decides to ban the unions he will ban them on. When COSATU was formed, it was a political union, all the leaders had to be clear on politics. We nominated Chris Dlamini, the secretary was Cyril Ramaphosa, we are in the process of building the union. Ramaphosa decided to remain with his union, we now had a problem we had to find someone who also understood politics. We nominated Jay Naidoo. Another problem arose, Jay Naidoo and Chris Dlamini are both in FAWU, the two of them are from the same union, what will we say to the people, it would have seemed as if it is a FAWU federation. We got together and analysed the situation. The biggest union at the time was the union of the mines, we then nominated Elijah Barayi was then nominated as the president and Chris his vice president. Barayi became the president and Chris the vice. We launched the union in Natal. Now, General and Allied Workers Union, they were a strong federation politically therefore we could not leave it behind because this can become a problem for us. Mufamadi was appointed as Jay Naidoo’s assistant. That is how COSATU was formed to date. Facilitator: let us go back a little baba. You said you came from Witbank to live in Pimville? Respondent: yes 4 of 14 Interview with David Maseko Facilitator: what made you to leave Witbank? Respondent: my father looking for work, he was working here at a bicycle factory. There’s a lot that I forgot, I will add on as I remember. Please print me the transcription so that I can edit where I went on. I was the chairman of Sweet Food which was split into two, people like Sticks Sikhakhane, Maggie Magubane and us we broke away and then we met up again, one industry one union, we then became one with Food and Canning. I also organised Food and Canning, there’s a lot missing. MAWU and UMMAWOSA, I played a very big role there. I used to recruit everywhere, as far as Natal, to connect with them so that they align with us, I would also go to Cape Town to connect with the others to align with us, eventually we had one union, a strong federation. Things were very bad at the time, the boers were arresting, beating people, people were beaten up, we constantly arrested, we were not sleeping in our own homes. They would come day and night, early hours of the morning around 2 am. It was not easy it was so difficult. If they see cars parked outside they would come in and say they are here to collect me. The boers looked for me up and down and did not find me. In fact I was working for Kelloggs .., they were aware of the political situation and let me sleep inside the factory. We worked hard for the federation and it still exists up to today. Facilitator: what happened to your family when the police were looking for you? Respondent: they were being pushed around by the police they were woken up in the early hours of the morning, they wanted to know when 5 of 14 Interview with David Maseko do I go to work, when do I bring them money, they treated my family very badly, you can ask my wife but that was part of the struggle. I look at people today they don’t know what we went through to get the democracy in this country.
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