Industrial and Commercial Workers UnionText by Dineo Poo Technical information:Stamp issue date: 30 April 2019 The history of South Africa cannot be narrated without the acknowledgement of the role played by Trade Unions and one has to start with the ICU. The ICU was both a trade union and a broad-based political party as it has always been difficult to extricate labour issues from political issues in South Africa. When the ICU started it was mainly active amongst the dock workers of Cape Town where it had some successful strikes. It swiftly spread to workers in rural areas working in the agricultural sector. The ICU merged with the Industrial Workers of Africa and with Coloured unions and by 1920 it had become the biggest Union of black people in southern Africa having sprouted branches in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Just as politics and the ICU are entwined, one has to focus on its founding member, Clements Kadalie. Veni, vidi, vici; I came, I saw, I conquered. These are famous words uttered by Julius Caesar after one of his victories. The words might have been uttered by Clements Kadalie. Kadalie was born in Nyasaland now known as Malawi. He worked briefly in Southern Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe, from 1915 to 1919. Thereafter he left for South Africa and ended up in Cape Town in 1919. Kadalie had trained as a teacher and worked as a clerk and upon his arrival in South Africa, he got exposed to the philosophy of worker unity and mobilisation. Despite the fact that he could not speak the local languages other than English, he had enough charisma, conviction and confidence to become the founder of the ICU. He was the leader of the ICU from 1919 up to 1929 when he resigned as National Secretary. The ICU became popular and it grew to have a membership of over 100 000 by the mid-1920s, unfortunately, its popularity with the workers threatened the South African government and its leaders and Kadalie in particular were persecuted. The Union also faced competition from organisations such as the Communist Party which had the backing of the ANC. The ICU disintegrated slowly due to external and internal factors and by 1931 it was a shadow of itself and largely ineffective but it showed that unity is strength and workers had to unite. The South African Post Office has commemorated this historic achievement of the workers by issuing a standard postage miniature sheet designed by Thea Clemons of Philatelic Services to honour the centenary of the ICU. It is available from 30 April 2019. Sources and acknowledgements:www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-africa-first-20-yearsdemocracy-1994-2014 |
