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National Union of Mineworkers invests in education fund
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Wilson Johwa
Business Day
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has produced such leading political lights as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and African National Congress secretary- general Gwede Mantashe, has now set its sights on training doctors, engineers, and IT and agricultural specialists.
The NUM’s intention is to contribute to closing SA’s skills gap while also reversing generations of poverty in mining communities. The union has given priority to critical skills over general study programmes.
The NUM has 320000 members and is the largest and richest union in SA.
Last year it received an income of R201m, 90% of which came from membership fees.
Other NUM products are businessman Cyril Ramaphosa and Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, both of them known as militants in their day.
In the last 13 years, the NUM has put 610 students through tertiary training.
“We have committed R250m in the next five years for education,” general secretary Frans Baleni said yesterday. The money will come from dividends on the union’s investments.
Baleni said mineworkers’ conditions were slowly improving. About 36% of NUM members live in single-sex hostels, down from 55% in 2005. Average pay was R5500 a month, up from R3300 in 2005.
The bursary scheme started with the formation in 1997 of the JB Marks Education Trust Fund, named after the president of the NUM’s predecessor, the African Mineworkers Union.
Mineworkers, their children and spouses, and retrenched members of the NUM may apply for a bursary.
There are at present 394 recipients studying for certificates, diplomas and degrees. Most are in SA, but some — dependants of migrant workers — are in neighbouring countries.
A bursary pays for registration, tuition, books and accommodation but not food. It may cater for bridging courses for those who cannot immediately enter university. “The idea is to address students from disadvantaged backgrounds, we don’t just cater for A-class students,” said Jako Mokgosi, the fund’s principal officer.
Among the beneficiaries is Nontsikelelo Bangani who graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand this month with a BCom in accounting.
“When I did my first year I didn’t have funding. My parents had to sell everything, livestock and all, for my fees to get paid,” she said.
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