Disbelief followed by an irresistible urge to suppress; nausea, then denial. Like most people, I saw the Marikana massacre on television news. Unlike most South Africans, I saw it far away, in a hotel in Rome, and through the frustrating eyes of the foreign media. Suddenly, it seemed my country had turned into Syria.
Days before I left South Africa, I attended a talk by economist Sampie Terreblanche at the Cape Town Press Club about his latest book, Lost in Transformation: South Africa’s search for a new future since 1986. Terreblanche said he had misjudged things in his landmark text A History of Inequality in South Africa, published in 2002. He believed then that the 1994 transition to democracy meant South Africa had transformed politically, but not economically. Now, after 18 years of ANC rule, Terreblanche concluded that the country had not transformed politically either. The new political and BEE elite were of the same ilk as the last lot. The “mineral energy complex” still ran the show, as they had always done; enriching their interests and indifferent to the poor.
If anyone had any doubts about who the ANC actually represents, the massacre of black (many of them migrants from the Eastern Cape) workers at the Lonmin mine followed by prosecutions and the invoking of apartheid security legislation has surely unmasked the truth.
During the strikes of 1922, Jan Smuts dropped 25-pound bombs on the workers holed up in Benoni, killing 230 of them. They were his people too – white men. Although he was prime minister, Smuts lost his seat as a result and embarrassingly had to be offered somebody else’s constituency.
And yet there seems no obvious or satisfactory political repercussion for President Zuma; another reason the ANC elite will continue to cling to the proportional representation system. (It was after all designed to protect minorities; something which they increasingly resemble themselves.)
Have I returned to the same country after Lonmin? The answer is yes, of course. In fact, it is a country that may even have regressed to the days of the robber barons and the thoroughly corrupt and corrupting Cecil John Rhodes. The captains of the mining industry then too spoke about how they will improve the working conditions of miners; a yarn management has spun for over a 100 years with shamefully little progress.
Lonmin has stripped away the rhetoric and laid bare some hard truths about South Africa. Many commentators have now made these points: the inability of the nation to redress past injustice; the unsustainable, gross and widening inequality of society; an overpaid management’s callous disregard for their employees; the inexcusable failure of the unions to represent the needs of their members because they have objectified workers and made them instruments for political ends and voting fodder (something I wrote about six months ago with specific reference to the platinum industry); the appallingly violent nature of strike action in South Africa and the militarisation of the police instead of it becoming a safety and security force suitable to a democratic country.
The commission of inquiry into what happened is necessary, but as far as the soul of South Africa is concerned, somewhat beside the point. We have a political economy that not only perpetuates but seems to be exacerbating inequality. This has at least two catastrophic consequences: the system can only be maintained through state violence, and secondly, extreme politics will continue to gain traction.
In the 1950s, when wages in the diamond and gold mines were below the poverty line, Ernest Oppenheimer defended the billions in profits the industry made saying: “Fair profits for our shareholders, which are commensurate with the risks that are involved.”
Shareholders do not risk their lives and their limbs and do not die in their scores producing that wealth. It is true that unemployment is high and that rock drillers earn perhaps 20 times as much as the average worker in Marikana, but the purely economic argument of supply and demand in the labour market is not morally acceptable when people motivated by desperation are compelled to put their lives at risk. That people doing such dangerous and arduous jobs cannot earn enough to maintain a decent standard of living for themselves and their family is patently unacceptable.
Mining companies are of course not governments. Not to let the mine owners off the hook from their social responsibilities, but the government of the ruling tripartite alliance is just as much to blame for the misery in Marikana. The squalor of life there is not due to bad wages, but the unforgiveable lack of service delivery by the government of a political party that seems now to have thoroughly lost the plot.
Unless business and the government become more responsive, South Africa is headed for an increasingly brutal future. Lonmin has put the country back on the trajectory towards self-destruction it was on under apartheid.
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This article was commissioned by the Wry Republic.
welcome back brent. you will have know now that you have been there that rome was not build in a day. getting to a just and equal society is a national project that will take us beyond 2030. but we remain undaunted.
you are right, you know. however, let us not deceive ourselves. the biggest threat to social cohesion in this country is not just the alleged bungling on the part of the governing party but economic inequality.
now, just as the chicken cannot produce a duck egg, it is impossible for this economic system to give us equality and justice. the fact that socalled socialism has not worked (sic) in the former Soviet does not mean that capitalism is working even though it is now a way of life in russia itself.
this system is based on selfishness, greed and total disregard for human life and dignity, especially that of black workers. we are fools to believe that we can build a socially cohesive in this system. at some point, the system has got to give in.
for a very long time many thought we are far from the brink. each days brings us closer because capital and some in government are, increasingly, afraid of engaging the people directly.
be afraid. be very afraid. none can just watch and say this is not my business.
we all have to be active citizens who help build the society we want to see based on constitutional principles and ideals. this constitution is not world renowned for nothing.
the question is: what have you done to contribute to justice and equality…
Agreed, that’s sunny South Africa- ruled by the majority for the majority!
The call for better “social conditions” all round is legitimate as long as all parties remain within the present framework of designed and agreed structures, following the laid down laws and negotiate in a business like manner!
To get lost in pseudo philosophies & lamenting will not solve anything. It will be the pressures from these despised robber barons, nowadays called global capital and shareholders to change whatever is seen a hindrance to a well managed production entity.
Equality is used too loosly! Equal to what? Yes, everyone should be equal before the law, before a God, wait in a queue. The next step up becomes already problematic- public school or private, public hospital or private?…etc why? Born to a king or pauper? Born gifted or not! Communism or something better? Capable to be a rockdriller or CEO. One passes- all pass? One poor all poor? Great, that we are all different and unequal!
To be born is the first risk in life, followed by growing up, learn, live, work & die!
Mine death since 1904 are given as 54,000, in 2010 down to 128/year.
Road accident death ~13,000/year. To sleep around catching HIV, is causing an estimated death of ~300,000/year- costing the taxpayer and the health service huge stress & sums! Do you condem & blame car manifacturers for the road carnage?
Figures speak on their own- every one should and can draw their own conclusion!
“Suddenly, it seemed my country had turned into Syria”
More hysteria, typical of apartheid beneficiaries yearning for the autocratic days of the apartheid regime.
“The squalor of life there is not due to bad wages, but the unforgiveable lack of service delivery by the government ”
This outlandish statement says all there is about Brent Meersman who tries to downplay gross exploitation and mismanagement by its fatcat executives that led to the massacre of almost 40 people. I suppose if one considers Brent and his ancestors role in the creation and support of the apartheid state, his perspective is understandable. Pinning the blame on the government is part of the white tribal DA agenda to create division within the majority government in the hope of gaining political power on the national level.
And no, the Lonmin massacre hasn’t put us “on the trajectory towards self-destruction it was on under apartheid”, we survived through a lot worse before our liberation. This incident however, is a clear sign that nationalization is just around the corner for these multinationals that continue to exploit and plunder our natural resources!
During the month of the commemoration of Steve Biko, it really hits home that we live in the ”two country” concept. It also once again makes the point that we must tell our own stories and not leave it to imposters. We all agree that Marikana is a tradegy and of huge concern to all. It is of such concern that there now is a commission of enquiry. Also, it is irresponsible for anybody to pronounce on the facts of Marikana simply because we do not know the facts. Also, none of our so-called intelligentsia speak of the events leading up to the tradegy. What happened prior to is more tragic. Shop stewards of NUM had to run for their lives because of intimidation. Security guards and innocent workers were killed prior to Marikana. Workers were/are intimidated on a daily basis and clearly a ”witchdoctor” made a lot of money out of Marikana. The red flags that are not raised are numerous especially murder. It is incorrect to argue from a point that the conditions on the ground were without this aspect of intimidation and murder of other workers.Also let us not blur the argument that the workers did not have legitimate grievances. We know that union contestation has not come without the shedding of blood. Are we seeing this again? Is there respect for the rule of law? It is convenient for elitists to make irresponsible analysis whilst sitting in glass houses. Hence I would rather wait for the outcome of commission and have an opinion on facts. That is the responsible…
@sandile. I like your comment that Rome was not built in a day. We all know this but at least in Rome in those days, they were actually building the city. What has the ANC been building in South Africa??
Jobs for friends and collogues, jobs and high posts for family and cadres. Huge salaries for non producers. Lavish lifestyles for the BEE elite. The odd high profile service delivery for an isolated case that is bragged about on TV.
The ANC have said for the last two elections, “Together we can do more”. We all knew that ‘more’ applied to theft, corruption, nepotism and unaccountability. With the ANC, the buck stops nowhere and the incapable and destructive ministers they have in place carry on, regardless of the mess they leave in their wake BUT, don’t despair as they still get a 5.5% pay increase for their failures. Look no further than education as this is where the failures start and this is where the ANC prepare voters to keep on voting ANC because education will make people see the light and vote for quality, services and honesty, certainly not a value of the ANC. “Me first” and as I have said before they follow the pirates code, “Take everything you can, give nothing back”!
I’m inclined to believe that the only group in this mess to have learnt anything or paid the figurative and literal price, is the mine. And the only reason I attribute less blame to the mine is because its direct point of contact on salary issues is the union, rather than the workers.
Will either the state or the unions concede that the hands of the mines have been tied by Cosatu’s ridiculous 50%+1 agreement? If not, it becomes clear where the real greed lies: with those who are merely interfering in business.
Now that the unrest has spread through other mines, what choice is there? I suspect many shafts will close over the next year. And I bet we’ll have public servants, the lot, striking for 20%+ increases in 2013. You can call that many things, but sustainable it ain’t!
As always. A good analysis Brent.
Oh, the evil capitalists!
Let’s face it though, there is no other way to run a mine.
Conditions down a Lonmin mine are far better (and the mine more profitable) than any mine in the former USSR, or indeed in a state owned mine in China, or again, in that Chinese owned coal mine in Zambia (score 2 miners shot dead — one manager hacked into little pieces) or again in the Chinese run copper mines in Zambia where the average wage is the equivalent of $3 a day. For work underground.
And, no matter how you look at it Lonmin did not order the police to shoot.
The government did.
@Tofolux, how come you know the facts about this labor dispute and nobody else knows the facts?
When white man writes
‘Dave Harris’ fights
@Tofolux
“Is there respect for the rule of law?” Obviously not, the government are unconstitutionally deploying the army at Marikana. They should lead by example and be the first to respect the law.
Well said Brent, I have the view that government need to prioritise education and job creation. Once unemployment declines, companies will be forced to pay workers reasonable wages.
I am giving up on Zuma ever figuring out this simple logic.
Dave and his “he is white, lets play the apartheid card” tactic never gets old. Nationalisation? Give me a break. Either the government would pay the workers the same to make profits from the mines, or pay workers more and increase tax rates to fund the mines. Economics 101.
Zuma’s commission of enquiry into the Marikana Mine Disaster will take 4 months and will cost the country millions (more cushy jobs) – when the answer lies in a simple word.
When miners strike illegally and protest using weapons illegally; when they refuse to discuss a settlement and illegally make threats, kill and use war tactics … when they make demands and do what they will, illegally, to get it (with the police force and army, helpless and hopeless), a precedent is set: That is anarchy.
The ANC acronym hijacked from the African National Congress to mean “Arrogance, Nepotism, Corruption’, now stands for A Nar Chy.
Is it not time we became more honest and balanced in our assessments of our national discourse and take of the ideological blinkers. Capitalism, it is oft stated, is a system based on greed, exploitation, abuse,etc. What believers of this often leave out however is that this system is fundamentally based on the individual’s industriousness, innovation, insight, effort,etc.
Socialism, it is said, is a fair and equitable system. Again they fail to point out that oft the agitators of this system do not have a clue (never mind appreciation) of the effort and industriousness required to reach the commanding heights they seek to share equally. They become “recipient capitalists of ideas they know nothing about”. How than can we expect them to treasure our harvest (or rather their loot) once they get their hands on it.
In South Africa, we need a “Marshall Plan” where the unemployed are at least given a “survival wage” through some form of employment coupled with a rapid skills and ethics development programme. The industrious amongst us must come up with new technologies and systems to sell to the world and absorb a trainable and ethical labour force in the production of these. This should be underpinned by an effective, functional schooling system.
It now becomes possible to move away from a manual labour with rudimentary responsibility force to one that is a highly skilled and attains its responsibilities to service the newly developed technologies.
@ johnbpatson
“Oh, the evil capitalists!
Let’s face it though, there is no other way to run a mine.”
Yes there is. You could run the mines like the steel-mills in Korea: “The steel industry that the Korean government created was among the most efficient in the world-performing far better than its private-sector rivals in the United States which, though private, are constantly turning to the government for protection and for subsidies). Financial markets were highly regulated. My research shows that those regulations promoted growth. It was only when these countries stripped away the regulations, under pressure from the U.S. Treasury and the IMF, that they encountered problems.”
Read rest of article economics Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Joseph Stiglitz:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Global_Economy/Globalisms_Discontents.html
>>
@sandile: You say: “this system is based on selfishness, greed and total disregard for human life and dignity, especially that of black workers.”
Firstly, it is because us human beings ourselves all have areas of selfishness and greed. Socialism is too “holier-than-thou” to acknowledge that basic reality, that’s why it ends up eating itself.
Secondly, kindly prove in scientifically objective terms your unsubstantiated claim of “especially that of black workers.” Just in case you are not aware, let me remind you that correlation does NOT imply causation.
@Enough Said: While the USA still has a strong remnant of capitalism (actually more of an entrepreneurial spirit), the country is slowly but surely turning into a “big government” (statist) country. Statism and Corporatism, rather than Capitalism, is the heart of the USA today – so I trust your comparison with Korean steel mills included that factor. By the way, did the cost of labour play a role?
@Tommy Madikoto: Couldn’t agree more. Through my years as a small business man I’ve empowered so many people on the path to successful careers. It is mostly the “I deserve a job (but I don’t want to work too hard)” ones who didn’t do as well. I’m glad to say that those who put in the effort (black, white, coloured, Indian) have done very well for themselves thank you very much.
They make me proud because they have also become true creators of South Africa’s wealth.
@jandr0
So capitalism in the US has failed. Could not agree more.
>>
At one time when I foolishly believed that BEE could do good for the ‘previously disadvantaged, I formed a BEE company and looked for suitable candidates to run the company, with me in the background guiding and teaching the skills of the printing and publishing industry. I found people who claimed they could open doors, knew people in high places and could make a material contribution to the new company. Apart from being ripped of my final result what that there were only 4 things that the BEE people wanted.
1) How much will you pay me? 2) How little must I do? 3) I need a plush office of my own. 4) Where is my BMW?
Needless to say the company went bankrupt.
BEE is now, to me, a dirty word that is an acronym for, Black Economic Extortion.
Yes, Meersman. South Africa as a ‘modern’ unitary national state was born out of the mining industry, and not a jot has changed for over a century.
Rural black men are sourced to migrate from home and family to the mines, the material is mined, and sold abroad.
The situation is unchanged except for the affiliations of those who govern the nation. Terreblanche is also spot on.
The obvious solution would have been to grasp the big picture and say, the real capital of the nation is its people. Give them a full-on modern and competent and enabling compulsory education at the expense of the state, and give them the incentive and the subsequent training to be manufacturing artisans. Manufacture goods just as Manchester and Birmingham did, as China does. Using our own mineral resources. Then export these, sell these, at good quality, decent prices, to the vast continental market on our doorstep.
Instead our human capital is unchanged, desperate, held to the old patten of migrant mine labour; the resources are sold off, shipped out. Only the oligarchs get to gain, whether they are Rhodes, Beit, etc or Ramaphosa, Sexwale etc. No change. Gross and reckless colonial-style opportunism, enforced by legislation and the gun.
@Enough Said: That is NOT what I said.
Statism and Corporatism is killing off the success of Capitalism.
Hhmm… It seems from your misinterpretation of my comment that you do not understand the difference between the terms. If that is the case, it would be frightening – since you would be blaming something without fully understanding the situation.
Could not disagree with you more.
@jandr0
I understand exactly whats going on. Capitalists are taking over the state. Its a natural outcome of capitalism. Corporations have become more powerful than governments. Corporations dictate what governments do, and with money, organise who will be elected, and which people will be elected by paying for the campaigns of Senators and Congressmen, and Presidents.
Capitalism, the best democracy money can buy.
@ Peter Joffe
“BEE is now, to me, a dirty word that is an acronym for, Black Economic Extortion.”
You are right. What you describe is a situation that now prevails in this country due to one of the most corrupt and racist ‘reverse-apartheid dictates of the ANC.
As a variation on a theme, BEE can also be used as an acronym for ‘Black Economic Entitlement ‘ – and in the case of the ANC,… ‘Black Economic Embezzlement.’
Wasn’t it you who also came up with another good acronym for the ANC ..
the ‘ African National Circus’.
@Enough Said: You are describing Corporatism.
But then you suggest it is Capitalism’s fault.
Capitalism – no, Corporatism – can ONLY take over the State if the State becomes part of the dance. So, according to Corporatism, the State is at least as much, if not more, to blame! You can not conveniently ignore that fact.
ideas how to fix:
1, Ensure that the state (who according to you is being bought by capitalism, and therefore just as guilty by your reasoning) is COMPLETELY transparent. (Especially no state security bills hiding information!)
2. Make the state only do what it should, then there is less corrupt State employees that can be bought by Corporatism. Otherwise, before we know it, the State will just become larger and larger, until it devours us all.
3. Educate the people so that they vote by THINKING. However, if the people want to be so stupid to vote in people who are willing to be corrupted by Corporatism, then maybe they deserve the government they get.
Kindly understand, I am not making out as if there are only bad people in government (the State). Sadly you will find bad people in religion (abusing priests?), in civil society, and in business (and you seem to fixate on them only).
However, what we as voters do have a direct say in (through the vote), is the State. Yet we allow ourselves to be fooled and vote in the same old corrupt ones time after time.
And then some of us want to blame Capitalism for our stupidity.
@jandr0
I said corporatism is a natural outcome of capitalism and US America is proof of this. Marx believed that capitalism always leads to monopolies. He is proved correct yet again.
“In fact, it is a country that may even have regressed to the days of the robber barons and the thoroughly corrupt and corrupting Cecil John Rhodes.” Wise words. SA is now regarded by many, not without cause, as being essentially a gangster state. Or certainly a state which is subject to one party domination, and the party is dominated by a nexus of gangsters. Lawlessness and anarchy seem to be the criterion for admission to this inner circle – and the many good and honest people in the party (who would be the counter to the robber barons if they stood a chance) are simply pushed aside using the crude tools of threats or patronage. Many historians and political analysts predicted this, as the signs of this trend have been visible for much longer than one may think.
I blame the Marikana thing on pure RACISM. Only Mr Malema can lead us into a program of efficient nationalization. Democratic coakitions of workers will run mines, and full of BENEFICiATION of platinum ore will be completed on site by committees of workers’ wives!
Thanks.