THE Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the new political party led by former African National Congress (ANC) Youth League chief Julius Malema, is to target mineworkers as its primary constituency and says it will “agitate” during this year’s wage talks for a minimum wage of R12,500.

There is already much anxiety that mining wage negotiations will be marred by labour unrest and violence with unions having made unprecedented demands. The EFF’s intentions can be expected to further inflame tensions and heighten these risks.

The EFF, which this weekend held a national assembly of representatives from around South Africa, also unveiled its logo, which along with a fist, a spear and the map of Africa, features a mining headgear, leaving no doubt as to what its focus will be. Among its key policies are nationalisation of the mines and banks.

EFF spokesman Floyd Shivambu said in an interview on Monday the inclusion of the mining headgear on the logo “symbolis es our commitment to reclaim South Africa’s mineral wealth … which constitutes the core of our political programme”. The party will be formally launched on August 17 — one day after the first anniversary of the Marikana massacre — at a rally in Marikana.

At the weekend assembly, worker leader Xolani Nzuza, who played a central role in the workers’ committee set up to negotiate with Lonmin during last year’s strike, is reported to have been “paraded prominently” as a leader of the EFF. In an interview on Monday, Mr Nzuza said he had joined the EFF because “there are many things that this organisation will change, such as our working conditions”.

Many mineworkers were asking him for membership forms as they still felt angry about last year’s events, he said. “The president of the country labelled the Marikana workers as hooligans, while Julius Malema came to speak to us.”

via EFF plans to ‘agitate’ for higher mineworkers’ pay | Labour | BDlive.