By Gugu Ndima
I watched the bodies drop, I was hoping at some point it would stop. The news reader had cautioned the footage was graphic. Men dropped like bricks on the soil of Lonmin grounds. I teared up and gasped. It was as if I was watching a documentary of a massacre from the 1980s. Innocent men lost their lives at the hands of merciless law enforcers. The deaths in Lonmin leave much to be desired. I had to watch a woman frantically asking a news reporter on sight where her husband might be. Hopeless and evidently frightened, she was hoping the newsreader would give her answers.
As union leaders, political spokespeople and analysts attempt to justify what happened and point fingers, dozens of men lost their lives gratuitously. They have been portrayed by some as irresponsible, some blame the unions and the classic excuse has been that a police officer was shot at therefore they were within their right or mandate to shoot back. Now from the little understanding I have of the situation, the men decided to organise a sit-in on a mountain, signalling they would not budge until their demands were met. The union leader addressed the crowd urging there shouldn’t be any bloodshed and requested the police to give them time. It’s as if, he sensed, this would happen.
From the visuals, it seems the workers were frightened at the sight of police officers surrounding them, getting ready to disperse the crowd (workers) on the hill and hence the tragic outcome.
But no amount of justification will bring back the lives of those brave men. The crux of the matter is that these were not criminals, they stated very clear why they were there and police officers, assumingly, are properly trained to deal with protests. We have seen violent protests across the country recently and there is yet to be a report about deaths. The fact is that no life should have been lost. This was not a game of “bullet for bullet” and it’s iniquitous to assume the workers intended to attack police officers, perhaps they felt they needed to carry weapons for protection as there was no security visible and it was not a protected strike.
One is tempted to believe that just maybe these men were victims because they were not members of a recognised union, stripping them of their right to organise themselves as they deem fit. The situation could have been handled better and bloodshed avoided. It’s disappointing to see leaders are avoiding taking responsibility and merely pointing fingers as to who might have been the instigator. The noble thing in this horrific hour is to honour these men by going to their families. We should ask ourselves what happens to the families that have lost breadwinners, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, pillars. What happens to the children robbed of a decent future, mothers that have now become single parents overnight. Lonmin and the unions must take account and ensure all these families are compensated and a decent burial is given. A worker’s life unfortunately still remains subhuman as we’ve witnessed.
These men were on that hill for hours, probably starving, tired, scared and anxious. However in their spirit of determination they braced the dangers ahead of them and stood resolute on what they believed in, ill-informed or not. Leaders must account for these deaths. Lonmin will in the next week or two probably forget about this as if it never happened, but the families will forever despair, their lives distraught and poverty knocking to remind them of their stark reality. The life of a worker is incalculable, he breaks the rock which sustains this economy, he feeds the children of the elite while his wait for crumbs back home in the mountains of Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
His strength is taken by mine shafts yet his spirit carries him to the next day. Salute to all of you, fathers, men of honour and workers who carry this economy. All you ever wanted was a decent wage to put food on your family’s table. This was your only crime.
I dedicate these few lines to all of you who lost your lives so tragically.
“Sisebenzel’ emgodini kanzima, sisebenzel’ imali’ncane uzoyenzani
Sisebenzelémgodini kanzima, sisebenzeímali encane uzoyenzani
Kulikhuni, kunzima, sisebenzelímali encane uzoyenzani”
May you find peace in the heavens and hopefully take comfort that you no longer serve the greedy white man on your own land.
Amandla!
Gugu Ndima
Descendant of the working class and poor.
Gugu Ndima is the media and communications officer of the ANC caucus in the Gauteng legislature.
@Beddy, in SA these people have multi-wives and this is why they can’t manage.
In Brazil there was stigma attached for people who were black and many black Brazilians were in denial of being black. I have a friend from Brazil living in the US, when his nephew came to visit him from Brazil, he made nasty remarks about American blacks. My friend told his nephew that in the US, he was considered black his nephew flip out. He got on the telephone and called his mother in Brazil to tell her that his uncle had called him black. Up until about twenty years a ago very few black Brazilians had gone to school in that country.
In Brazil, the labor unions don’t have the same influence in the government like they do in SA. In Lula’s labor party in Brazil, this party never got the majority in Congress because Brazil has direct elections.
@amused reader
Thoughtleader – “(It) had become a haven for liberally minded intellectuals, who find ever fancier ways of avoiding the hard realities of life.”
You have a great sense of humor, as I see numerous narrow minded reductionist right wingers contributing.
On the other hand, maybe you are serious with the above statement, but could that be as you admit, you don’t bother with Thoughtleader. You should read the column more often.
@amused reader
Thoughtleader “(It) had become a haven for liberally minded intellectuals, who find ever fancier ways of avoiding the hard realities of life.”
You have a sense of humour,
I see there are reports surfacing that striking miners were shot in the back while running away from police. There are also photos on the internet.
Sterling
Our ANC government is in business/partnership with Brazil in BRICS so they all make it sound like a economically booming paradise with no racism!
@Beddy, in Mandela’s book “Long Walk to Freedom” he says that when these workers were sent to the mines to work, the workers had part of their salaries taken from them and sent to the tribal chiefs. Can you tell me if this practice is still going on in SA?
They Broke the Law
They Wanted War
—————————
They were not lambs
Brought to the slaughter
They wanted war.
Armed with knobkiereis and pangas and spears
And knives and guns
And muti
And cries of war
They had already killed before:
Innocent people and enforcers of the law
They wanted more:
So they broke the law
And opted for war
An uncivil civil war
And they got war.
And that’s what war is:
If you’re meant to be striking
And you go to war
You sometimes get more
Than you bargained for.
@ Gugu
“‘President Zuma is a Hands-On President.’ – do you mean on women?
The people in this country only have the option of voting for a political party.
Zuma was not elected as ‘president’ by citizens of this country. He was made president by ANC dictates.
And they were voted in to power by people who fell for the myth that the ANC were actually concerned about anything besides lining their own pockets.
Saunderson-Meyer’s very valid views are endorsed by the millions of S Africans.
Your trying to save Zuma’s face (part of your well-paid job), is as ridiculous as trying to disprove what everyone knows: Zuma is self-serving. He does not serve the people. Zuma’s embarrassing image, like Malema’s, is cringe-worthy.
As a party the ANC are to blame for electing him in to such a position..
The only way Zuma could run any country is into the ground.
Zumaville? Shouldn‘t that be ‘Zuma-babwe’ ?
But whether he has another term or not, he needn’t worry – and probably doesn’t.
He will leave like all ANC leaders. Filthy rich.
Sterling
I don’t know about the chiefs, but the workers are saying that the Unions are taking large deductions.
There is one thing that I will never forget in this whole tragedy of the dead miners – it is the reaction of Susan Shabangu, minister of minerals & energy, and Riya Piyera, the commissioner of police: They behaved like some chickens have died in their fowl run. I am not sure whether this attitude was out of naivety or arrogance but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Human beings have died – are they aware of this? Such indiscretion may follow them for the rest of their lives and even beyond their graves. A gross misrepresentation of female leadership and woman power. Very very unfortunate.
@Beddy, in the US the unions were doing the same thing to the workers and the mob took over the unions. The same thing happened in the US when a rivalry union tries to muscle in on another union and there were killing. These workers at the mines are paying kick back to get a chance to work, just like on the waterfront in the US. Most of these unions in SA have never had their books audited and nobody knows what been happening to the money. The ANC led government is afraid to touch them because Zuma would be afraid of these labor bosses. I don’t know if you know it but, the US unions played a major role in setting up unions in SA.
@UNA, you are too Nieves the people appointed to positions in the ANC don’t give a damn about those workers. Susan doesn’t know anything about mining or natural resources, she is there to collect a paycheck. The people in the ANC are not going to waste any sleep over these miners killed the other day. These mine workers live in two different worlds from the big wheels in the ANC. The ANC led government didn’t provide books for these workers children going to school and nobody was fired for not doing their job. Please,wake up!
@Beddy, why don’t the government give these workers low cost loan to buy trailers to live in at the mines like in the US? Instead of trying to build houses for migrant workers, it would be better for these workers to live in trailers. If one travel over the US, one will be shocked at the number of people living in trailer parks. I would like to write to Sexwale to find out if it would festable to build trailers in SA.
@Ndima, why have the government tried to get companies to build house trailers. Denel could be designing and building these trailers for the people to live in at a profit. Look at how many jobs would be created in SA if this country start building house trailers.
Sterling
The majority of these workers are not South Africans but are supplied by labour brokers to the mines from our neighbours – probably because they are cheaper.
About a third come from the South African Homeland of the Transkei, which is where they are supposed to have their homes.
According to the radio those shacks seen on TV belong to the unemployed not to miners presently employed, but to those made redundant some time ago.
@Beddy, in most places in Africa the people earn three hundred dollars a year so, a workers coming from other African countries are moving up the ladder by working in SA. The same thing is happening in the US, the people coming from Mexico and Central America are able to send money back home to their families by working on the farms. The capitalist system is working well in SA and I don’t understand why people are knocking it. The average pay in the mines in SA is five hundred dollars a month and in Cuba the average pay is twenty dollars a month.
Sterling
South Africa has 45 percent unemployment – it has to look after it’s own people first or it will collapse – which will benefit no-one!
“will no longer serve the greedy white man….” And where does this leave the Ramaphosas, Sexwales, etc who all have mining interests?
I have lived the 80s as a fighting young person whose motto was NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER. I however will say that whenevr we got cornered by armed police we raised our hand and gave a sign of peace. In the Marikana footages I saw men armed with panga etc running unexpectedly towards police. Had the police surrendered or ran away, they would have been overrun. I am shockec that the ANC Gauteng caucus did not see that.
Police are no less working class than miners, they have children to feed too. The Al Jazeera footage shows the first gun shots came from the crowd that had on Monday brutally murdered two members of POPCRU.
Yes all loss of lives is tragic but those of who grew in the East Rand township know that AMATYATANGUBO (blanket wearers) believe that bullets cannot pierce through their blankets. They were under the illusion that they would massaccre police against any bullets that may be fired. Let us allow the commission uncover the truth and stop making populist noises.
The challenge facing progressive democrats is to prevent Marikana from ever happening again by ensuring that trade union retain their democratic content. Shop steward should not act as a buffer between management and workers but be true representatives.
The inquities of poverty, unemployment and horrendous inequality have ensured that Africans will always have explosive grievances that glory seeking opportunists will pounce on. They will mislead our people into murdering councillors, police, insulting the president etc. The full force of the law must unapologetically its course when that happens.
Marikana is a wake up call to all of us at various levels of leadership and activism to climb down from our ivory towers and palace squabbles and to humbly debate, discuss and consult with our people. A manipulative know it all attitude is a recipe for a violent counter revolution that will make the post French revolution reign of terror look like a picnic.
No leader, at whatever level should be calling for leadership but we should all be providing it.
Amidst all the confusion after the shooting of 44 protesting miners at Lonmin¹s Marikana platinum mine in South Africa, we should not lose sight of the astonishingly simple underlying issues.
We are told the workers are demanding that their wage be raised to R12,500 per month (about $1,500) but the workers claim their salary is already at this level. They say they are sub-contracted by a company owned by billionaire South African oligarch Cyril Ramaphosa. He only pays them R5,400 or less and pockets the rest paid out by Lonmin.
If this is so then agreeing to the workers¹ demands would cost Lonmin nothing and the whole dispute is between the workers and Cyril Ramaphosa. Instead of saying this however, Lonmin has placed itself between the two and taken responsibility for negotiating a pay rise which no one has asked for. Doing this, Lonmin is placing Cyril Ramaphosa¹s private interests above those of its common stockholders and is neglecting its fiduciary duties. It is also leaving itself open to litigation.
Cyril Ramaphosa in fact owns 9% of Lonmin but was paid out $304m in
cash by the company in 2010 in a deal backed ultimately by Xstrata. By comparison common shareholders have received only $60m in dividends in the last two years and have incurred over $2.5bn of paper losses. What the workers are requesting is that Ramaphosa share with them about $18m which he is taking from their wages.
When Cyril Ramaphosa bought 50.03% of Lonmin¹s Black Economic Empowerment partner Incwala Resources in 2010, Lonmin put up the $304m in cash which he needed. Lonmin funded this with a share issue to which, according to Lonmin, Xstrata was the key subscriber. Since then a further $51m of credit has been extended to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa¹s company also provides all of Lonmin¹s welfare and training services and for this he may have been paid at least $50m in 2011 alone. Based on the worker¹s demands and their living conditions, we can guess at how much of this reached its stated purpose. Companies linked to Ramaphosa were also paid ³advance dividends² by Lonmin of $20m in the last two years.
All-in Lonmin seems to have paid Ramaphosa and his related companies well over $400m since he bought into the company. This is about 25% of Lonmin¹s current market value and is a very large amount for a man who was supposed to be doing the paying when he bought his stake.
And this is not all.
The Marikana conflict is portrayed as a dispute between two unions, the hegemonic NUM and a small new union, the AMCU. But the NUM has been Cyril Ramaphosa¹s vehicle since he founded it in 1982. He was its Secretary General until 1998, the year he went into private business to become a billionaire. This has led to claims that the ANC has instituted a form of modern day slave labour. The workers¹ employer and their union are effectively the same person. Is it surprising that the workers worry that their union is not wholeheartedly defending their legal rights?
All this casts the Marikana conflict in a very different light to what we have heard so far.
The dirt-poor Marikana workers, many from Lesotho, living in slums, wearing rags, are asking for an extra $750 per month from one of the most powerful figures in the ANC and one of the richest men in the world, and they are openly calling him an exploiter.
Such a debacle, which calls into question not only Lonmin, Xstrata and Ramaphosa but also the whole ANC hierarchy, the reality of the ³New South Africa² and the credibility of the ANC¹s many foreign supporters, not least those in the United States, helps to explain the speed and the savage brutality of the reaction.
On 16th August, 6 days into the strike, the police opened fire injuring 112 and killing 34.
Local witnesses claim the workers were not charging at the police but were fleeing from them as tear gas was thrown at them by another police detachment. Autopsy reports apparently confirm many were shot in the back.
At the time Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, was in Mozambique at an SADC meeting. He returned to South Africa but only one day later. He visited Marikana briefly but stayed away from the main area. A full five days passed and only then did he return and visit the crime scene. On the day of the attack Ian Farmer, the CEO of Lonmin, was diagnosed with a ³serious illness² and still has not returned to work.
A few days later the 270 men who were arrested were charged with committing murder. They allege that they were stripped in their cells and beaten with sticks. Once an international outcry began and it became apparent that the publicity of a trial could be counterproductive, they were quickly released.
Even with the above illumination, some crucial questions still remain.
How could Cyril Ramaphosa exercise such influence over Lonmin¹s Executive Board to be able to effectively bend it, and potentially the Board of Xstrata too, to do his bidding? And what truth could the South African government have been so desperate to hide that it was judged better to risk everything and open fire on its own people, rather than let it see the light?
The answer lies at the heart of the bitter fallacy of the South African commodities boom and the emerging markets paradigm which we have lived in the last 15 years.
The sad truth is that nothing has changed, or, more accurately, nothing has improved.
In the past there was one oligarch, Harry Oppenheimer, who controlled Anglo American. Mr Oppenheimer officially opposed the apartheid regime and was a liberal but conveniently continued to export gold and diamonds from South Africa up to and beyond 1994.
Today there are five to ten oligarchs. They are black and they are African. They too oppose apartheid and they too are exporting all of South Africa¹s gold and diamonds at the present time. The reason Cyril Ramaphosa could ransack Lonmin in the way he has is because he effectively is Lonmin. Lonmin exists in many ways to serve his interests and its foreign shareholders would do well to understand this. The whole debate about nationalisation is therefore completely moot. South Africa¹s mines have already been nationalised and given over to a ruthless tyranny, signed, sealed and delivered by the many cheerleaders of the ANC overseas.
So what will happen next? In fact the next Marikana has already occurred. Tear gas was fired and four workers were shot two days ago on a gold property near Johannesburg controlled by another oligarch, Tokyo Sexwale. The strategy of the ANC¹s opposition, which is correct given the extent of the disenfranchisement since 1994, will be to now target every oligarch. It will be demanded that they return much of what was taken. But this will never be done voluntarily and so this conflict, just like the apartheid struggle, will go on for many years.
Will this really be the lasting legacy of the post-apartheid era? Is this what Nelson Mandela¹s years in prison, Bill and Hillary Clinton¹s ringing endorsements, Bob Geldof¹s concerts and Bono¹s songs were meant to bring to us? Will they all now leave the world in darkness, with a set of fearful problems for a future generation to sort out? We will have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Arthur Mackay is an analyst of global economic and political issue
Ntozakhona
Are you for real? A detailed account of what happened in Marikana reveals that miners who were lying prostrate were mowed down by inyalas. Most miners were shot at the back. That most killings took place away from the footage that was shown by the police. To even refer to your own African brethren in derogatory terms makes me wonder if you cannot give a go ahead to ethnic cleansing and massacres. You seem very immune to ramifications that stem from random use of force on humans regardless of what the prescripts of the South African constitution are. Such an attitude is worrying and makes us as South Africans loose our innocence. I doubt after Marikana that SA will be called in to solve problems. Our loss of innocence has made even imperialists to ignore our pleas for reason to prevail in Mali – France being the guilty party. There is no ivory tower for a committed patriot. There are only sleepless nights for many who do not know what to do because they are not in government and have to trust that those who have made themselves available to govern will do the right thing. We cannot all govern at the same time otherwise there will be chaos.
Ntozakhona
I meant the footage that was shown on Television screens