THE BRANCHES VIEWED FROM THE REGIONS

The regions’ point of view is a useful one in approaching NUM at the grassroots since it is both panoramic and derives from direct access to the union's branches. However, it is difficult to generalise about NUM branches, their state of affairs and functioning, since they differ from one place to another. They differ in size, ranging from more than 9 000 members in the biggest branch to less than 100 in the smallest. There are also differences between large mining companies where there are several branches, and smaller companies where most staff are subcontracted by external service providers. If one follows the path along which the mining strikes have spread since 2011, what is revealed, apart from the most obvious feature (their location), is that the more recent branches (in platinum) appear to function in a more chaotic way than the older, more established branches. However, gold mines were also affected and it seems that problems involving rebellion against the union in certain branches had already been identified in NUM reports, including as recently as in the reports presented at the various 2011 regional conferences. The branches experiencing governance problems were usually the biggest ones – those sometimes referred to as ‘makhulu’ (big, strong) branches. A 2005 Carletonville regional report suggests that branches in this gold-rich region are weaker than their counterparts in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeninging (PWV) area and Rustenburg. Its leadership, however, is probably harsher than that of Rustenburg in assessing the state of its own structures. If one considers three different regional reports, it seems clear that the union has experienced deep challenges both externally (by employers) and internally (via leadership battles and defiant members) over the last decade. The following section examines, through a regional lens, how NUM assesses the state of its own local structures.

Rustenburg, by far NUM's largest region before the 2012 strikes, had a total of 164 branches and 107 866 members paying subscription fees to the union. Only 113 branches, however, totalling 95 101 members, qualified for participation in the 2011 Rustenburg regional conference. The main branches around Rustenburg were Impala North (8 547 members) and Impala South (9 015 members) where the strikes started at the end of 2011.