PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has denied that his government is taking sides in trying to resolve the turf war between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
Zuma said the government was "impartial" in this regard, despite close links that existed between the leaders of the ANC and government with the embattled NUM.
"We are very neutral when it comes to dealing with what is happening on the mines," he said in Pretoria yesterday.
"We are not meeting others and not others. The fact that the ANC is in the alliance with NUM has never made us to fail to deal with things properly and choose friends. We are not choosing sides at all."
However, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and secretary-general Gwede Mantashe have been very vocal about a need to defend NUM against attacks and to reclaim the membership of mineworkers it lost in the Rustenburg mines.
A campaign was launched in Rustenburg where senior ANC leaders, including Mantashe and SACP leaders, have held rallies urging workers not to follow unions that had no history in waging workers' battles.
Mantashe recently said Amcu had a right to exist but it should not point guns at people, forcing them to sign membership forms.
During May Day celebrations in Rustenburg, Ramaphosa, who is a former leader of NUM, told workers: "We must stand firm and united and defend the union (NUM) ...We must declare Rustenburg the Alliance's territory because it is home of the ANC".
Rivalry between NUM and Amcu was the epicentre of the labour unrest that led to last year's Marikana massacre in which 44 people were killed.
Amcu has irritated NUM after taking 37000 of its members. It currently stands as the majority union at Lonmin representing workers, a position that NUM had enjoyed for many years.
Zuma said he had requested Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to engage with union leaders and mine bosses. Several meetings had taken place in the last few weeks and he would report back to Zuma in a bid to resolve the stand-off between the two unions in the mining sector.
Amcu recently protested against NUM demanding that it vacate its offices at Lonmin as it was no longer the majority union representing workers.
'We are neutral when dealing with what is happening on the mines'
We are not choosing sides - Zuma
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has denied that his government is taking sides in trying to resolve the turf war between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
Zuma said the government was "impartial" in this regard, despite close links that existed between the leaders of the ANC and government with the embattled NUM.
"We are very neutral when it comes to dealing with what is happening on the mines," he said in Pretoria yesterday.
"We are not meeting others and not others. The fact that the ANC is in the alliance with NUM has never made us to fail to deal with things properly and choose friends. We are not choosing sides at all."
However, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and secretary-general Gwede Mantashe have been very vocal about a need to defend NUM against attacks and to reclaim the membership of mineworkers it lost in the Rustenburg mines.
A campaign was launched in Rustenburg where senior ANC leaders, including Mantashe and SACP leaders, have held rallies urging workers not to follow unions that had no history in waging workers' battles.
Mantashe recently said Amcu had a right to exist but it should not point guns at people, forcing them to sign membership forms.
During May Day celebrations in Rustenburg, Ramaphosa, who is a former leader of NUM, told workers: "We must stand firm and united and defend the union (NUM) ...We must declare Rustenburg the Alliance's territory because it is home of the ANC".
Rivalry between NUM and Amcu was the epicentre of the labour unrest that led to last year's Marikana massacre in which 44 people were killed.
Amcu has irritated NUM after taking 37000 of its members. It currently stands as the majority union at Lonmin representing workers, a position that NUM had enjoyed for many years.
Zuma said he had requested Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to engage with union leaders and mine bosses. Several meetings had taken place in the last few weeks and he would report back to Zuma in a bid to resolve the stand-off between the two unions in the mining sector.
Amcu recently protested against NUM demanding that it vacate its offices at Lonmin as it was no longer the majority union representing workers.
'We are neutral when dealing with what is happening on the mines'
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