South African unions take aim at "fascist Mexico"

Published>Tue, Jun 15 10 08:48 PM

Leading South African unions called on Tuesday for worker protests at Mexico games during the World Cup Finals to highlight what they called "fascist regime" treatment of a fugitive Mexican miners' leader.

"The primary purpose is to send a message, not disrupt," Oupa Komane, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), told a news conference.

Mexico, which opened its campaign with a 1-1 draw against host South Africa, has its next World Cup appearances against France in Polokwane on June 17 and Uruguay in Rustenburg on June 22.

Both cities are in South Africa's northern mining belt, and members of the NUM and other unions nearby would be urged to protest at the games, mainly by waving placards, Komane said.

POLITICAL PROTESTS

The tournament, the first on African soil, has mostly been free of political protests while some local labour groups have used the threat of strikes during the sports spectacle to press for higher wages.

A joint statement from the NUM and other unions claiming as many as 2 million members also called for a march to the Mexican embassy in Pretoria on June 28 in support of Mexican mining union leader Napoleon Gomez.

Gomez is accused by the Mexican government of skimming off millions of dollars into private bank accounts. He fled to Canada in 2006 after being ousted as miners' leader, but his supporters say the government orchestrated his downfall to install a more cooperative replacement.

He has since been re-elected but the government refuses to recognise his position.

The South African union statement described the corruption charges as trumped up and said it was vital for all workers to unite against "the continued onslaught and terror unleashed by the fascist and counter-revolutionary Mexican regime".

South African unions were a major driving force in the struggle against apartheid and even though white-minority rule ended in 1994 they remain an extremely powerful social force.

Unions demanding an 18 percent pay hike threatened a walkout this week by up to 16,000 workers at power utility Eskom, a move that could affect power supply during the World Cup.

Last week, hundreds of Mexican federal police backed by helicopters smashed a three-year strike at country's largest copper mine, enraging the mining union.

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