Thembisa Shologu
Minister for Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe has called upon all citizens to take collective responsibility in preserving the legacy of the esteemed South African trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist Elijah Barayi.
Barayi was one of the country's heroes in the fight for justice, equality and democracy from 1944 to 1994. He passed away in January 1994 after a short illness.
Reflecting on the life lived by Barayi at the Second Elijah Barayi Memorial Lecture at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Thursday, Minister Mantashe called on everyone to work in unity. 
"You will not be able to defend the legacy of Barayi through fragmentation; you can only protect it through unity. 
"Once you decide to move in a different direction, that is not Barayi's legacy that is fragmenting it. That is something else that we do not know. You can never influence the direction and want to have an impact fragmented; the only formula is unity," said Mantashe. 
Born in 1930 in Cradock. Barayi, at the age of 14, joined the Youth League. He was part of the formation of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1982 and was subsequently elected President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). 
"He was a firebrand because he was a product of a particular era. It is activism that made the world appreciate that apartheid was a crime against humanity; it was an evil against humanity. It was not theory that was written and recited," he said.
In 1987, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) organised a massive strike in South Africa, which was the longest and biggest in the country's history. 
The strike, lasting three weeks, involved over 340,000 workers demanding better wages and working conditions. 
 "If you talk about the strike in 1987 in the country, many people just remember it was a big strike, there was a railway strike, and there was OK Bazaar strike; that combination shook the world. 
"That combination was not an accident of history; it was a deliberate programme, and as it went on, among the demands was freedom in our lifetime. A very conservative industry was Apartheid mining led by Barayi. 
"We achieved a few things in that strike: a black person was allowed to have access to a blasting certificate, we acquired a role of women to work in the mines, black mine workers did not have a retirement fund, and in that strike, we established a retirement fund for black mine workers. That changed the face of the industry. That was the biggest strike in the sector that shook the tables," said Mantashe.
Minister Mantashe said that wherever Barayi was, he should be proud that the trade union produced three Secretary Generals of the ANC in succession, Cyril Ramaphosa, Motlanthe and Mantashe, and all served in the Office of the President.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi said Barayi represented an era of leadership that was needed at that time: fearless, sober, calm, but most importantly, understanding the needs of the people and the desire to liberate them.
Lesufi stated that the current generation was looking for ideas, purpose, and direction, emphasising that cowardice was not an option and selling out was not an option. 
"We need to be firm, direct, and we need to stand where people like Elijah Barayi stood for the emancipation of our people. 
"There might be compromises, but selling out is not an option. We need to be radical on issues that we stand for and not bend backwards purely because other people believe they can take advantage of the political situation we've had.
We must be strong on transformation, we must be strong on the issues that we believe on the global stage and be strong on what we think will be the right way to honour Comrade Elijah Barayi," said Lesufi.