Frans Baleni was a founding member of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1982, and the next year was elected a shaft shop steward at Western Holdings mine in Welkom.
15 Facts About Frans Baleni
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Frans Baleni was a strike leader, and one of the youngest negotiators, during the August 1987 national mining strike, the largest in the NUM's history.
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Frans Baleni was elected unopposed after the other contestant, Archie Phalane, was disqualified on a technicality, and he was thought to have the support of Mantashe, who has been described as his mentor.
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Frans Baleni was general secretary between 2006 and 2015, gaining re-election in both 2009 and 2012.
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Frans Baleni presided over a period of declining influence and membership at the NUM, particularly in the platinum belt in the north-east of the country.
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Frans Baleni was seen as something of an elder in Cosatu.
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Indeed, Frans 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.
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Frans Baleni was seen as "a key player in leading the offensive" against Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers when they were expelled from Cosatu in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
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Frans Baleni had an antagonistic relationship with Julius Malema, the former president of the ANC Youth League.
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Frans Baleni has not taken up political leadership positions outside the NUM, except in the SACP.
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Frans Baleni declined an ANC nomination for a seat in the National Assembly of Parliament in 2009.
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Frans Baleni was removed as general secretary in June 2015, when the Free State regional secretary, David Sipunzi, narrowly beat him in a vote: Frans Baleni won 345 votes and Sipunzi 357.
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Frans Baleni has been on the board, at one point as deputy chairperson, of the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa.
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Frans Baleni is viewed as a political supporter of Ramaphosa.
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Frans Baleni remarried to Phindile Baleni, an attorney who became South Africa's first female director-general in the presidency in 2021.