Elijah Barayi (15 June 1930 – 24 January 1994) was a South African trade union leader. Born in Cradock, Barayi hoped to study at the

Fort Hare University The University of Fort Hare () is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across ...

, but his family were unable to afford tuition, so he instead became a clerk at the Department of Native Affairs. He joined the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) in 1952, and worked closely with

James Calata James Arthur Calata OLG (1895 – 1983) was a South African priest and politician. He was the Secretary-General of the African National Congress from 1936 to 1949. He was appointed a canon of the Grahamstown Cathedral making him the first Bl ...

. He participated in the Defiance Campaign, presenting himself at a local police station without papers after curfew, for which he was sentenced to one month in prison. In 1960, the ANC was banned, and Barayi was again arrested, and held for five months. Following release, he moved to

Brakpan Brakpan is a mining town on the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa, approximately 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) east of Johannesburg. History The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water ...

to escape police harassment, and found work in personnel at a gold mine. In 1973, he moved to a similar role in

Carletonville Carletonville is a town in Gauteng and the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality in the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, just north of the richest gold-mining area in the world. At 3,749 m, Western Deep Levels ho ...

, and there was elected as the chair of the mine's liaison committee. He attempted to use the role to oppose racial discrimination and underpayment, and was banned by management from standing for a second term. In 1981, Barayi met

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

, and this inspired him to become a founding member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He was elected as a shaft steward, and then in 1983 as the union's vice president. In 1985, he led a strike of 9,000 workers at the mine, raising his profile. In December, the NUM affiliated to the new

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union ...

, and Barayi was elected as its president. As COSATU president, Barayi strongly opposed the pass laws, and called for disinvestment in South Africa by foreign organisations. He was arrested in 1986, and detained for two weeks without charge. He stood down from his COSATU post in 1991, and retired fully in 1993.

References

1930 births 1994 deaths South African trade union leaders People from Cradock, Eastern Cape {{SouthAfrica-activist-stub