Workers' party to be launched
2013-03-11 19:16
Johannesburg - A new political party, the Workers' and
Socialist Party (WASP), will be launched later this month.
"We [are] trying to build it as a party that can
provide a political platform to unite the struggles of the working class
people, not just in the mines but all industries," spokesperson Mametlwe
Sebei said on Monday.
Sebei said the party intended contesting the 2014
elections.
The party would register with the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) this week and would be formally launched on 21 March in
Pretoria.
Sebei said mineworkers, who were part of the national
strike committee during last year's mining industry unrest, were backing the WASP.
Mineworkers in the Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo and
Gauteng, gave their unanimous backing to the WASP at a meeting in Rustenburg on
Sunday, he said.
"This is of huge significance. The launch of the WASP
was initiated by a number of different shaft-based strike committees, but this
weekend, the rank-and-file leaders of the mineworkers nationwide have come out
in support of the WASP," Sebei said.
"Behind these delegates are hundreds of thousands of
mineworkers and millions if you include their families and communities."
However, it was not clear who would lead the WASP.
Sebei said the party would hold a meeting after its
launch where it would elect its leaders.
He said the WASP wanted to stop the job losses and help
create more jobs.
It would also call for nationalisation of the mines under
a democratically controlled economy.
According to the WASP's website, it was founded by
workers' strike committees from KDC West, Anglo Gold Ashanti, Bokoni Platinum,
Harmony Gold, out of work miners at Royal Bafokeng Platinum Rasimone and Murray
and Roberts Kroondal, and the Democratic Socialist Movement.
Elias Juba, chairperson of the mineworkers' national
strike committee, said the lack of political representation of the working
class and poor needed to be tackled.
"Marikana showed that we, the working class, have
been abandoned by the ANC," he said.
"The ANC is more interested in protecting the
profits of the mine bosses at the expense of the living standards of the
mineworkers, their families and communities."
Juba said the launch of a political party was the obvious
next step.
- SAPA
