The global labour movement is in mourning today over the death of former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Mandela died on Thursday evening at home with his family in Johannesburg following a long illness. He was 95.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid, a system of racial segregation enforced by South Africa’s white-minority government.
Both in South Africa and abroad, trade unions were at the forefront of the fight to end apartheid.
Black workers, who provide a source of cheap and easily exploitable labour for the apartheid regime, were banned from forming trade unions until 1979 but that did not stop them from using their sheer numbers to advance the call for freedom throughout decades of brutal suppression.
Internationally, trade unions were also vital in putting the fight against apartheid on the map organising everything from protests to boycotts of South African products.
Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and immediately began negotiations for the transition to democracy.
He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, stepping down after just one term in office.
After retiring from politics, Mandela dedicating himself to numerous charitable causes, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS, which had devastated the country.
A service of national mourning is expected to be held on Monday. Mandela’s body will then lie in state for three days in the capital city of Pretoria, before a state funeral is held in the Eastern Cape village where Mandela grew up.
A beacon for justice
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) told Equal Times: “Mandela was a giant of a political and spiritual leader whose courage and humility will always be a beacon for justice. Our deep sympathy today is with the people of South Africa. As they mourn the father of their democracy, the world has lost a global champion for rights and freedom. We cry with them.”
Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, tweeted yesterday while on a week-long visit of the former apartheid “frontline” states of Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique: “A country, a continent and the entire world reunited in grief as we mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela, a truly exceptional human being.
“The world has been enriched by his passion, his commitment, his perseverance, his integrity and, above all, his humanity.”
Jay Naidoo, the former Secretary General of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), who also served in Mandela’s first government as Minister of Development, said in a moving tribute on the Daily Maverick:
“Mandela belongs to the world. No country or organisation can claim him. He is the revolutionary, the teacher, philosopher, feminist, intellectual, who best personifies our shared humanity.”
Patrick Craven, spokesperson for COSATU, said in a press statement: “Comrade Madiba inspired all those fighting for freedom in South Africa and around the world. He suffered long and brutal incarceration, but never became embittered and revengeful.
“He was elected as our first democratically elected President, but remained a humble and modest servant of his people, who never put his personal interests before his commitment to the struggle.
“He never compromised his democratic principles or thought of anything but how to win the ultimate victory of the struggle he lived for, and was prepared to die for - for a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and free South Africa.”
Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, General Secretary of ITUC Africa said: “Nelson Mandela was a hero who inspired many with his extraordinary courage and tenacity in the struggle against apartheid and for social justice and human progress.”
“As we mourn and celebrate the life of Madiba, our popular hero, we are reminded to renew our commitment for the cause of freedom, justice and equality to which Madiba dedicated his entire life.”
