Are unions still relevant? Yes, they gave us our dignity,say worker

Labour relations reached a crossroads with the Marikana Massacre, raising questions about the relevance and power of unions post-apartheid

- Nkateko Joseph Mabasa

The Marikana Massacre, when 34 miners were shot and killed by police while protesting for a wage increase at Lonmin’s platinum mine, exposed deep cracks in labour representation. For many, it marked a collapse in the relationship between workers and the unions meant to protect them.

“Marikana was a dramatic collapse of engagement between worker and employer, which left a sour taste in society around unions and a bad memory that unions don’t help,” said Katlego Letlonkane, a workplace culture and inclusion specialist at Stellenbosch University.

‘Trade unions were central to South Africa’s liberation struggle. From the 1973 Durban strikes to their role in the mass democratic movement of the 1980s, unions provided both protection and political voice for the working class.

Yet Marikana revealed a crisis of legitimacy. Workers bypassed their own union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), signalling a loss of faith in traditional structures.

“Marikana was not only a turning point — it was a warning,” said Mario Jacobs, a researcher at the Centre for Transformative Regulation of Work at the University of the Western Cape. “It revealed a disconnect between union leadership and the rank-and-file, a gap that continues to widen, particularly among younger workers.”

Despite this, Jacobs insists that organised labour remains essential to South Africa’s democracy. “The need for unions remains. But whether they occupy the same position is another matter.”

For Justice Nkomo, a property officer at the Mogale City local municipality and a member of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), unions remain a powerful force.

Nkomo joined Samwu in 2015, paying R80 a month in membership fees. The return, he says, has been transformative.