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Frans Baleni
4th General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers
In office
2006–2015
Preceded byGwede Mantashe
Succeeded byDavid Sipunzi
Personal details
Born
Msokoli Frans Baleni

1959 or 1960 (age 63 or 64)
Orange Free State, South Africa
Other political
affiliations		South African Communist Party
SpousePhindile Baleni
Occupation
  • Trade unionist
  • politician
  • businessman

Msokoli Frans Baleni (born 1959 or 1960)[1] is a South African businessman and former trade unionist who was general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers between 2006 and 2015. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.[2][3]

Early life

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Baleni was born in the Free State and attended high school in the Eastern Cape on a bursary, until he moved back to the Free State in 1979 when his political activity had attracted the attention of Eastern Cape police.[4] Between 1979 and 1988, he worked as a gold miner in Welkom, Free State, at an Anglo American (then AngloGold) mine.[4][5][6]

1982–2015: Trade union career

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He was a founding member of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1982,[7][8][9] and the next year was elected a shaft shop steward at Western Holdings mine in Welkom.[1][8] He was a strike leader, and one of the youngest negotiators, during the August 1987 national mining strike, the largest in the NUM's history.[1][10] By 1993, he was head of the organising department, and was later the chief education officer.[11] In 2006, he succeeded Gwede Mantashe as general secretary of NUM, by then the biggest union in the country and the most powerful affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).[10] He was elected unopposed after the other contestant, Archie Phalane, was disqualified on a technicality,[12] and he was thought to have the support of Mantashe, who has been described as his mentor.[11][13][14] He was general secretary between 2006 and 2015, gaining re-election in both 2009 and 2012.[8]

[I]t does become problematic... when it serves as an umpteenth example of the notion that NUM and Baleni in particular are seemingly more comfortable in the company of business than the workers they represent.

— City Press on Baleni's closeness with mining bosses, published under the headline "Where does Baleni's loyalty lie?", 2013[4]

NUM decline

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He presided over a period of declining influence and membership at the NUM, particularly in the platinum belt in the north-east of the country. Although one factor was the general decline of the South African mining sector, the NUM also lost influence to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), founded in 2001 and now a major force in the platinum mines.[10][15] In 2012 and 2013, conflict between the NUM and Amcu led to violence in Rustenberg, North West province, both among Lonmin miners and among Anglo American Platinum miners.[16][17] After the Marikana massacre, when police shot and killed miners in an Amcu-led wildcat strike at the Lonmin mine, Baleni defended the police's actions.[18]

Among other things, the NUM was criticised for its and Baleni's perceived closeness to mining bosses and to the government,[19] to the extent that critics nicknamed the union the "National Union of Management."[10] Stephen Grootes writes that Baleni "almost epitomised 'union establishment,'"[20] and, similarly, Raphaël Botiveau says he "embodies the ideal type of the 'trade union executive.'"[4] Botiveau also claims that he subscribed to "a version of communist ideology that is characterised by the exercise of tight control over the organisation."[4] In 2012, there was a minor scandal when his salary was leaked to the Mail & Guardian, which identified him as "one of the highest-paid unionists in South Africa."[21][8][22][23]

Baleni was seen as something of an elder in Cosatu... What Baleni wanted, Baleni got.

Politics

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Baleni, and the NUM under his leadership, have been criticised for their perceived preoccupation with a political agenda, at the expense of attention to labour grievances.[15][24][25][26] This criticism related to Tripartite Alliance politics as well as to inter-union rivalries. Baleni was reportedly close to his predecessor, Mantashe, who by then was secretary general of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and he was allied to the South African Communist Party under Blade Nzimande – he had been elected to its Central Committee months after he was elected general secretary.[3][15][13][27][28][14] In Cosatu, he was seen as allied with Cosatu president S'dumo Dlamini,[10][19][27][29] who in turn was a key ally of eventual national president Jacob Zuma.[9][30] Indeed, Baleni himself has been described as "a leading figure" in Zuma's campaign for re-election as ANC president ahead of the ANC's 2012 Mangaung conference.[31] He was seen as "a key player in leading the offensive"[15] against Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) when they were expelled from Cosatu in 2014 and 2015 respectively.[10][20][32][33] He also had an antagonistic relationship with Julius Malema, the former president of the ANC Youth League.[34][35][36]

Although Baleni supports state intervention in strategic economic sectors, he is opposed to nationalising the mines – according to the Mail & Guardian, on "pragmatic" grounds.[27][37] He has not taken up political leadership positions outside the NUM, except in the SACP. He declined an ANC nomination for a seat in the National Assembly of Parliament in 2009.[38] In 2011, he was rumoured to be a potential candidate for the next general secretary of COSATU, when Vavi was believed to be stepping down, although left-wing critics objected to his perceived sympathy for the government's economic policies.[13][27][28]

Ousting

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Baleni was removed as general secretary in June 2015, when the Free State regional secretary, David Sipunzi, narrowly beat him in a vote: Baleni won 345 votes and Sipunzi 357.[39] The result of the vote was described as unexpected,[15] and local commentators viewed it as reflecting a shift of momentous significance, with journalist Max du Preez calling it "a political earthquake."[19][20] According to a leftist source, it was a "heavy blow" to the right wing of the union and of Cosatu.[40] The Mail & Guardian said that the election "threatened to split the union."[41]

Local commentators believed that the expulsion of Vavi and Numsa had been the decisive issue in the leadership contest – Sipunzi was notably more sympathetic towards them than Baleni.[10][20] Forbes saw Baleni's perceived closeness with the mining companies as another crucial issue, quipping, "Apparently, many in NUM felt the gentlemanly Baleni may have been too gentlemanly in dealing with the mining bosses."[42]

Career in public entities

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After losing the 2015 election, Baleni retired from union work. In December 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him to the Eskom sustainability task team, which reviewed the turnaround plan and long-term strategy of the public power utility.[43][7] In October 2019, he was appointed chairperson of the board of PetroSA, the state-owned oil and gas company, where he is implementing a corporate turnaround,[7][44][45] and he was appointed to the board of the Public Investment Corporation, the state-owned asset manager, in November 2021.[46] He has also been on the board, at one point as deputy chairperson,[47] of the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa.[21][8]

He is viewed as a political supporter of Ramaphosa (also a former NUM general secretary).[48][49]

Personal life

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Baleni's wife, Andeya Merriam Baleni, died in a car accident in December 2006.[50] He remarried to Phindile Baleni, an attorney who became South Africa's first female director-general in the presidency in 2021.[51][52] As of 2018, he lived in Boksburg, Gauteng.[53]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Bishop, Chris (10 August 2017). "'I Said Kill Me, They Said Cheers!'". Forbes Africa. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Current Central Committee". South African Communist Party (SACP). Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Previous Central Committee Members". South African Communist Party (SACP). Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e Botiveau, Raphaël (2017), "Trajectories of Union Leaders and NUM Leadership Ideals", Organise or Die?, Wits University Press, pp. 213–244, doi:10.18772/12017122040.13, ISBN 978-1-77614-204-0, JSTOR 10.18772/12017122040.13, retrieved 16 January 2022
  5. ^ Baleni, Frans (17 September 2018). "4IR: A chance or curse for labour". University of Johannesburg. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Speaker details: Frans Baleni". Eventscloud. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Marrian, Natasha (12 March 2020). "Frans Baleni, chair of the board of PetroSA". Business Day. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e Serrao, Angelique (9 June 2014). "Doing it for love at R77 000 a month". The Star. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b Sosibo, Kwanele (26 October 2012). "NUM stands fast on shifting ground". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Nicolson, Greg (7 June 2015). "NUM: The end of The Age of Frans Baleni". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  11. ^ a b Botiveau, Raphaël (2017). "Taking Control of NUM". Taking Control of NUM: The Rise of the Communist Faction. Wits University Press. pp. 245–272. doi:10.18772/12017122040.14. ISBN 978-1-77614-204-0. JSTOR 10.18772/12017122040.14. Retrieved 16 January 2022. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Marinovich, Greg (17 August 2012). "Beyond the chaos at Marikana: The search for the real issues". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  13. ^ a b c Botiveau, Raphaël (2013). "Longevity of the Tripartite Alliance: the post-Mangaung sequence". Review of African Political Economy. 40 (138): 620–627. doi:10.1080/03056244.2013.854042. ISSN 0305-6244. JSTOR 24858284. S2CID 154036197.
  14. ^ a b Matlala, George (2 May 2012). "Battle looms over NUM leadership". IOL. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Munusamy, Ranjeni (9 June 2015). "Power games: Upheaval in the labour movement reverberates through Alliance". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  16. ^ Marinovich, Greg (27 October 2012). "War: Cosatu vs Amplats strikers. Battlefield: Rustenburg". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  17. ^ Hlongwane, Sipho (20 February 2013). "Rustenburg: AMCU and NUM call a truce – for now". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  18. ^ Polgreen, Lydia (16 August 2012). "Mine Strike Mayhem Stuns South Africa as Police Open Fire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Du Preez, Max (9 June 2015). "Baleni's defeat a political earthquake for ANC". News24. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  20. ^ a b c d Grootes, Stephen (7 June 2015). "Where to next, NUM/Cosatu?". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  21. ^ a b Letsoalo, Matuma (31 May 2012). "NUM plans disciplinary action over Baleni salary leak". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  22. ^ Marinovich, Greg (24 April 2013). "Conflict of Interest, Inc: Mining unions' leaders were representing their members while in corporations' pay". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  23. ^ Letsoalo, Matuma (18 May 2012). "Uproar over unionist's huge salary hike just 'a campaign'". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  24. ^ Patel, Khadija (3 October 2012). "Cosatu and the NUM fight back. Sort of". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  25. ^ Munusamy, Ranjeni (17 January 2013). "NUM, the incredible vanishing union; Cosatu in the danger zone". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  26. ^ Patel, Khadija (5 September 2012). "NUM – Rich history, unforgiving present". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  27. ^ a b c d Letsoalo, Matuma (23 March 2012). "Unionists to choose sides". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  28. ^ a b Letsoalo, Matuma (8 July 2011). "Jimmying up the battle for succession". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  29. ^ "New NUM leaders 'have a mountain to climb'". The Mail & Guardian. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  30. ^ Mkentane, Luyolo (2 June 2017). "S'dumo Dlamini dumps Zuma". IOL. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  31. ^ Bezuidenhout, Andries (2017). "Labour Beyond Cosatu, Other Federations and Independent Unions". Labour Beyond Cosatu: Mapping the rupture in South Africa's labour landscape. Wits University Press. pp. 217–234. doi:10.18772/22017070534.17. ISBN 978-1-77614-053-4. JSTOR 10.18772/22017070534.
  32. ^ Evans, Sarah (9 November 2014). "'The fight is not over' - Numsa to fight Cosatu expulsion". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  33. ^ Bezuidenhout, Andries (2017). "Democracy and the Rupture in South Africa's Labour Landscape". Labour Beyond Cosatu: Mapping the rupture in South Africa's labour landscape. Wits University Press. pp. 1–17. doi:10.18772/22017070534.6. ISBN 978-1-77614-053-4. JSTOR 10.18772/22017070534.
  34. ^ "Strike until NUM leaders step down, Malema tells SA's miners". The Mail & Guardian. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  35. ^ Masondo, Sipho (15 November 2011). "NUM nails Malema for his playboy lifestyle". Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  36. ^ Prinsloo, Loni (14 October 2012). "NUM blames Malema for wildcat strikes". Business Day. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  37. ^ Malala, Justice (17 August 2012). "The Marikana action is a strike by the poor against the state and the haves". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  38. ^ Letsoalo, Matuma (9 February 2009). "Top lefties snub ANC jobs". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  39. ^ "Baleni bids farewell to NUM". News24. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  40. ^ Morken, Ben (8 June 2015). "South Africa: Frans Baleni kicked out! A heavy defeat for the COSATU and NUM right wing". In Defence of Marxism. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  41. ^ Whittles, Govan (25 May 2018). "Faction-riven and bleeding, NUM turns on itself". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  42. ^ "Can The Deer Stare Down The Headlights?". Forbes. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  43. ^ "These are the 8 members of Ramaphosa's Eskom task team". IOL. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  44. ^ "Frans Baleni, PetroSA". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  45. ^ Quintal, Genevieve (21 October 2019). "Frans Baleni to lead new PetroSA board". Business Day. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  46. ^ Ginindza, Banele (5 November 2021). "Labour representation on the new PIC board hailed as positive". IOL. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  47. ^ "Union bosses scoring as directors of SOE boards". Daily Maverick. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  48. ^ Marrian, Natasha (8 October 2020). "PROFILE: Is Phindile Baleni Cyril's next DG?". Business Day. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  49. ^ Mahlakoana, Theto (25 May 2019). "Frans Baleni hails Ramaphosa as strategic visionary". EWN. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  50. ^ "Num leader's wife dies in car accident". IOL. 28 December 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  51. ^ Khoza, Amanda (21 March 2021). "SA's first female director-general in the presidency appointed". Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  52. ^ Khoza, Amanda (11 April 2021). "'They think I'm soft, but these teeth ... they bite': Phindile Baleni". Sunday Times. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  53. ^ Sibeko, Ntombikayise (1 May 2018). "Frans Baleni provides insight on the importance of Workers Day". Boksburg Advertiser. Retrieved 16 January 2022.

Further reading

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[edit]
Trade union offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers
2006–2015 		Succeeded by
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