The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) marks the 60th anniversary of the death of trade union and struggle stalwart, Vuyisile Mini.
Dubbed the ‘organiser of the unorganised’ because of his unrelenting efforts to organise workers across the Eastern Cape during the repressive 1950s, Mini was among the first ANC members to be brutally executed by the apartheid regime on 6 November 1964.
Born in Port Elizabeth in 1920, Mini’s father was a dockworker, labour and community activist who inspired the young Vuyisile to take part in the bus fare and rent increase protests at age 17. Mini was also involved in the campaign against forced removals. He worked as a labourer and trade union organiser after completing his elementary education.
It was during this time that he gained a reputation as a prolific organiser and was tasked by the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), COSATU’s predecessor, to organise metalworkers. He later became Secretary of the Metalworkers’ Union. Along with fellow activist Stephen Tobia, Mini founded the African Painting and Building Union and went on to become a founding member of the Port Elizabeth Stevedoring and Dockworkers’ Union. In the 1950s the union embarked on one of the longest wage strikes and fought against the use of prisoners as cheap scab labour.
Mini became Regional Secretary of SACTU in the Eastern Cape in 1960.
His political activism started when he joined the ANC in 1951. By the following year he was incarcerated for three months along with Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba for taking part in the Defiance Campaign. Mini was arrested when he intentionally accessed railway property reserved for white people.
On his return, he intertwined his trade union and political activism, which led to a rapid climb up the ranks of the ANC to Secretary of the Cape region. In 1956 Mini was among the 156 defendants in the Treason Trial. But due to lack of evidence, the state’s case collapsed and Mini was discharged.
Highly talented, Mini was an actor, dancer, poet and singer. He also composed music, for which he is still remembered including, ‘Pasopa nansi ‘ndondemnyama we Verwoerd.’
He was recruited into the ANC’s armed wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, becoming a member of the Eastern Cape High Command. Two years later, he was arrested along with two of his comrades and charged with 17 counts of sabotage and other political crimes including complicity in the death of an alleged police informant. Mini and his co-accused were sentenced to death in March 1964.
All three refused an offer to turn state witness in exchange for their lives. Their death sentence drew outcries internationally and pleas for clemency, which were denied by the apartheid regime. On the eve of his execution Mini’s distinctive bass roared down the hushed corridors as he and his comrades bid goodbye to the world with a final musical message in Xhosa. Defiant to the end, Mini also sang as he was led to the gallows on that fateful day.
It is because of brave stalwarts like Mini that the country has such a vibrant labour movement that is committed to fighting for and defending workers’ rights. COSATU stands on the shoulders of giants and can only strive to reach the level of leadership its forebears exhibited.
Issued by COSATU
Zanele Sabela(COSATU National Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
Email: zanele@cosatu.org.za