A TRIBUTE TO A WORKING-CLASS FIGHTER

The sudden death of our dearest comrade Amos Magadla on 1 December 2024 has left us shattered and devastated with disbelief. Amos dedicated most of his adult life fighting for working class emancipation through the trade unions and APDUSA.
He joined APDUSA Gauteng in the period 2000-2001. At some point he stood in the forefront of building the organisation and sustaining APDUSA’s presence in South Africa’ economic hub. Besides distributing the politics and literature of the organisation, he regularly participated in national meetings, yearly conferences and political schools. He recruited new members to the group who later took up leadership roles in APDUSA.
Amos arrived in Gauteng from the Eastern Cape in the early 1990s in search of a job. After working for short stints at various companies, he eventually found a permanent job at UMICOR, a big company in Roodepoort. He was a humble but militant worker leader who stood for justice as he defended workers against exploitation and victimization. When UMICOR’s factory shut down, he was retrenched with other workers.
Following his retrenchment, Amos became involved in the Masibambane Unemployed Project (MUP), an initiative of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU). In 2010 he became an organiser of General Industries Workers Union Of South Africa (GIWUSA) and relocated to the Eastern Cape in 2018 to coordinate the building of this union in that province.
Amos took great interest in audiovisual filming through his work in the MUP. He used his video recording skills to begin an audiovisual history of APDUSA. It produced rare interviews with APDUSA stalwarts as well as footage of some conferences and political schools. Through his videos and photographs the dedication and contributions of Amos to the anti-capitalist cause of the labouring majority, shall be preserved for the inspiration of generations still unborn.