{{infobox historical event |event name | Marikana miners' strike |Image_Name |Imagesize |Image_Alt |Image_Caption |Thumb_Time |AKA |Participants National Union of MineworkersAssociation of Mineworkers and Construction UnionSouth African Police ServiceMine security |Location Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa |Date ? |nongregorian |Deaths 11 August: 413 August: 9 (police: 2, miners: 3, unstated: 4)16 August: 34 miners (78 miners wounded) |Result |URL }} |
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The Marikana miners' strike or Marikana massacre was a wildcat strike that rose to international attention following a series of violent incidents between South African Police Service officers and strikers which resulted in the deaths of 36 mine workers, 2 police officers, 4 unidentified persons and the injury of an additional 78 others. The strike occurred in August 2012 at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa.
The violent incidents on 16 August were the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the end of the apartheid era. The shootings have been described as a massacre in the South African media and have been compared to Sharpeville massacre in 1960. The incident also took place on the 25 year anniversary of a nationwide miner strike against the government of Apartheid South Africa.
Background
Platinium exploitation and trade
Platinium is the main metal exploited in the Marikana mine. Platinium prices soared in the last decade, being, as of 2012, at 3/4 of its all time high and 400% of its 2001 value. Meanwhile, miners� working conditions and salaries barely improved.First Protests
On 10 August 2012, rock drillers initiated a wildcat strike in pursuit of a pay raise to 12,500�South African rand per month, a figure which amounted to tripling of their monthly salaries (from approx. $500 USD to $1,500).The strike occurred against a backdrop of antagonism and violence between the African National Congress-connected National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its emerging rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). According to a Guardian columnist, the NUM was closely linked to the ruling African National Congress political party but lost its organisational rights at the mine after its membership dropped from 66% to 49% and its leadership began to be seen as 'too close' to management.
Prior peaceful protests and fatal clashes
At the Marikana platinum mine, operated by Lonmin at Nkaneng near Rustenburg, 3,000 workers walked off the job. Four NUM members were shot and wounded in two separate clashes with AMCU members at Nkaneng on the first day of the strike. On 13 August, nine people, including two police officers, were killed at the same mine. The 2 police officers were hacked to death, with a third seriously injured, after they had responded to the unrest. Police responding to these killings then shot at and killed a further 3 miners.NUM had previously accused the rival AMCU of stirring up trouble during an illegal six week mineworkers strike that occurred in January 2012, when workers rioted, looted and burned property, resulting in three deaths.
Before the shootings, SAPS Captain Dennis Adriao told journalists: "We have tried over a number of days to negotiate with the leaders and with the gathering here at the mine, our objective is to get the people to surrender their weapons and to disperse peacefully."
The Mineworkers and Construction Union's Jeffrey Matunjwa said that the protests were in response to poor pay: "As long as bosses and senior management are getting fat cheques, that's good for them. And these workers are subjected to poverty for life. [After] 18 years of democracy, the mineworker is still earning 3,000 [South African Rand - approximately $360] under those harsh conditions underground."
16 August shooting
On the afternoon of 16 August, members of a contingent of the South African Police Service opened fire on a group of strikers. 34 people were killed, and at least 78 were wounded. The incident was the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the Sharpeville massacre during the apartheid era.Preliminary Theories
Footage from several different angles shows that the police were pushing the strikers into a small area. Groups of strikers began singing struggle songs, and marched along police lines. The police fired teargas and rubber bullets into these groups. At least one person in one group shot a handgun at the police. Members of this group either panicked or deliberately charged at a police line which sparked off the shooting.Police accounts
The South African Police Service said that the miners had refused a request to disarm and attacked them with various weapons including firearms taken from the two police officers killed earlier in the week. South Africa's Police Commissioner, Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega stated that the 500 strong police force was attacked by armed strikers, stating "The militant group stormed toward the police firing shots and wielding dangerous weapons."The day after the shooting Police Commissioner Phiyega released a statement giving a detailed account of the efforts taken by the police to avert the threat of a violent end to the stand-off. In the statement Commissioner Phiyega claims that the SAPS had on a number of occasions since the beginning of the week attempted to negotiate a peaceful end to the strike. Commissioner Phiyega also claims that they - the SAPS - had begun receiving information that the crowd did not intend to leave peacefully and that a violent response from the miners was a likely outcome. At this point Commissioner Phiyega asserts that efforts were made to escalate defensive and crowd control measures by the deployment of concertina wire barricades and the use of water cannons, rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas to break the strikers up and drive them into an area where they could better control them. It was at this point that Commissioner Phiyega claims that the efforts to gain control of the situation failed and the miners turned violent, attacking members of the SAPS. Commissioner Phiyega claims that members of the SAPS that were directly in the path of the attack had moved back in a defensive manner up until the point that it was believed that their safety was under threat, at which point they were cleared to use maximum force to halt the attack and protect themselves. Commissioner Phiyega believes that the SAPS had acted well within their legislative mandate as outlined in Section 205 of the Constitution of South Africa.
Eyewitness and journalist accounts
According to the BBC, eyewitnesses reports suggest that "the shooting took place after a group of demonstrators, some holding clubs and machetes, rushed at a line of police officers";The Times reported that police did not use live ammunition until fired upon by a striking worker with a shotgun, and The Sowetan reported that striking miners appeared to have fired on the police, though the group which advanced towards the police appeared to be "peacefully gathering". The Star journalist Poloko Tau said police maintained that they had been fired on first, but Tau did not see this firsthand.
Siphiwe Sibeko, a Reuters photographer who was present at the scene, stated that he saw at least one of the protesters shoot a pistol before the police opened fire.
Al Jazeera reported that the strikers had been forced by police in armored vehicles with water cannons into an area surrounded by razor wire at which point the shooting began.
The striking mine workers had gathered on 16 August on nearby Nkaneng Hill armed with spears, pangas (large machete-like knives) and sticks. A large group of women, not employed at the mine, some armed with knobkerries, joined them.
Following protests
The day after the shootings a group of miners' wives protested singing and chanting slogans and songs from the anti-apartheid struggle. They denied that the striking miners had shot first, insisted that the strike was about wages and demanded that the police officers responsible for the shooting be fired.Most of the employees of Lonmin, which number approximately 28,000 employees, did not go to work the Monday after the shooting, despite a statement that those who don't would risk being dismissed. A spokesperson for Lonmin said that 27% of its employees were at work. The chief financial officer for Lonmin, Simon Scott, said that "nobody will be asked to report for duty if the police consider them in danger of reprisals."
Other protests
There was a small protest outside parliament in Cape Town the day after the shootings. Two other mines also had similar protests, after the shooting, demanding a 300% salary increase. Police were present at the sites in case there was violence and in order to prevent an escalation of strikes. North West Province Premier Thandi Modise warned of spreading protests if the growing inequality gap was not dealth with. The same day Jacob Zuma visited the Marikana mine.http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/08/2012822135041901731.htmlReactions to the shooting
South Africa
Government
President Jacob Zuma, who had been attending a regional summit in Mozambique at the time of the�16 August shootings, expressed "shock and dismay" at the violence and called on the unions to work with the government to "arrest the situation before it spirals out of control". The day after the shootings, Jacob Zuma traveled to the location of the shootings and ordered a commission of inquiry to be formed, saying: "Today is not an occasion for blame, finger-pointing or recrimination." Zuma also declared a week of national mourning for the strikers who were killed.National police commissioner Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega, a former social worker who was appointed on 13 June, stated police had acted in self-defense, saying, "This is no time for blaming, this is no time for finger-pointing. It is a time for us to mourn." Phiyega presented aerial photography of the events which she claimed demonstrated that the strikers had advanced on the 500 strong police force before they had opened fire.
The Ministry of Safety and Security issued a statement that read while protesting is legal, "these rights do not imply that people should be barbaric, intimidating and hold illegal gatherings." The ministry defended the police's actions, saying that this was a situation in which people were heavily armed and attacked.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate of South Africa (IPID) announced an investigation into the actions of the police force in the deaths : "The investigation will seek to establish if the police action was proportional to the threat posed by the miners. It is still too early in the investigation to establish the real facts around this tragedy."
The opposition Democratic Alliance criticised the police action.
Julius Malema - the former leader of the youth wing of the ANC, who had been suspended from the party four months prior to the incident- visited the scene of the shootings and called for Zuma to resign, stating, "How can he call on people to mourn those he has killed? He must step down." He also said:
A responsible president says to the police you must keep order, but please act with restraint. He says to them use maximum force. He has presided over the killing of our people, and therefore he must step down. Not even [the] apartheid government killed some many people. [The government] had no right to shoot. We have to uncover the truth about what happened here. In this regard, I've decided to institute a commission of inquiry. The inquiry will enable us to get to the real cause of the incident and to derive the necessary lessons, too. It is clear there is something serious behind these happenings and that's why I have taken a decision to establish the commission because we must get to the truth. This is a shocking thing. We do not know where it comes from and we have to address it.
The South African Communist Party, which is in an alliance with the ruling ANC and COSATU, to which NUM is affiliated, called for the leaders of AMCU to be arrested. AMCU blamed the NUM and the police and insisted that, contrary to various rumours, the union was not affiliated to any political party. Frans Baleni, the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, defended the police action to the Kaya FM radio station in saying: "The police were patient, but these people were extremely armed with dangerous weapons."
On 21 August, Defense Minister Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula became the first South African government official to apologise for the shooting and asked for forgiveness from angry miners who held up plastic packets of bullet casings to her. "We agree, as you see us standing in front of you here, that blood was shed at this place. We agree that it was not something to our liking and, as a representative of the government, I apologise...I am begging, I beg and I apologise, may you find forgiveness in your hearts."
Trade unions
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, a union federation to which the strikers are opposed, supported the police account of events and said that the police had first used tear gas and water cannon on the miners, who then responded with "live ammunition".National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union spokesman Sizwe Pamla said after the tragedy "This atrocious and senseless killing of workers is deplorable and unnecessary. Our union feels Lonmin should be made to account for this tragedy. We also demand an investigation on the role of labor brokers in this whole [incident]. The remuneration and working conditions of miners also needed to be addressed, as these mining companies have been allowed to get away with murder for far too long. Our police service has adopted and perfected the apartheid tactics and the militarisation of the service, and encouraged the use of force to resolve disputes and conflicts. Police tactics and training needed to be reviewed in light of Thursday's shooting. The union demands that all police officers who deal with protests be taught disciplined ways of controlling protesters. We cannot afford to have a police force that is slaughtering protesters in the new dispensation."
Speaking at a press briefing in Sandton after the confrontation, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said management had reneged on commitments it had made to miners earlier in the week, claiming the shootings could have been avoided if management made good on their commitments to workers. Mthunjwa presented two documents in evidence mine management had indeed made commitments to the miners their grievances would be dealt with, but reneged, causing the violence. "Management could have stuck with their commitment. The commitment was once you're there peacefully at work, management will address your grievances through union structures," stated Mathnjwa, who noted he tried to help even though the confrontation did not involve his ACMU union. "This was an infight of the members of NUM with their offices. It's got nothing to do with AMCU.". Mathnjwa explained Amcu's leaders had been called to the site to intervene in the standoff between workers and the mine as a peaceful intermediary, even though the ACMU did not represent those involved in the dispute. "I pleaded with them. I said leave this place, they're going to kill you," said Mathunjwa, who later broke down in tears.
Mine owner
Mine owners Lonmin issued a statement following the shootings expressing regret for the loss of life, stressing the responsibility of the police for security during the strike and disassociating the violence from the industrial dispute. Lonmin also said that the strikers must return to work on 20 August or possibly be dismissed. Simon Scott, Lonmin's acting chief executive, following the incident said that the company needed to "rebuild the Lonmin brand and rebuild the platinum brand". Workers rejected the company ultimatim to return work and vowed to go ahead with their protests till their demands for wage increases were as it would be an "insult" to the dead otherwise. Lonmin then extended the deadline by 24 hours, as Zuma called for a mourning period.When the strike began, Lonmin halted production and said that it was unlikely to fulfill its full year guidance of 750,000 ounces(metric system value?) of platinum. Lonmin said it will have to monitory its bank debt levels due to the disruption. Lonmin's capacity to refinance its debt was also questioned.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-21/lonmin-may-struggle-to-refinance-debts-after-strike-bmo-says.html
Strikers' families
Miners' families criticized the government's failure to produce a list of the dead two days after the incident leaving many to worry whether missing members of their families were amongst those killed, wounded, or arrested during 16 August incident.Religious leaders
A delegation from the National Inter-faith Council of South Africa (NIFC-SA) visited Marikana on 21 August to offer condolences and support to the community. The delegation included Rhema Church head Pastor, Ray McCauley and Catholic Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Tlhagale, and Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein.Media
Reuters described the incident as causing South Africa to question "its post-apartheid soul".South African news media showed graphic footage and photos of the shootings, while the headlines included "Killing Field", "Mine Slaughter", and "Bloodbath". The newspaper Sowetan issued a front-page editorial, questioning what changed in South Africa since the fall of Apartheid in 1994, saying that this has happened in South Africa before under Apartheid when blacks were treated cruelly, and "it is continuing in a different guise now."
Mining Weekly.com said that the Lonmin killing would hurt South Africa as a destination for investment.
International
Platinum market
Following the incident the spot price for platinum rose on world commodity markets.Political reactions
US Presidential Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters "The American people are saddened at the tragic loss of life [at the Lonmin mines] and express our condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones in this incident."In Auckland, New Zealand, protesters attacked the South African embassy with paint bombs.
Other
The director of the Institute for Democracy in Africa, which was a leading anti-apartheid organisation asked "Why did South African policemen use live ammunition and interfere with a crime scene?" The director also criticized the independent commission of inquiry, stating, "It is very disappointing that those appointed to the commission of inquiry include cabinet ministers. They cannot be independent and will not be trusted."The Bench Marks Foundation argued that "The benefits of mining are not reaching the workers or the surrounding communities. Lack of employment opportunities for local youth, squalid living conditions, unemployment and growing inequalities contribute to this mess."
References
Category:2012 in South Africa Category:Filmed deaths Category:Massacres in South Africa Category:Miners' labor disputes Category:Mining in South Africa Category:Protest-related deaths Category:Protests in South Africa
de:S�dafrikanischer Bergarbeiterstreik 2012 es:Masacre en Lonmin fr:Gr�ve des mineurs � Marikana vi:Th? m? ?�nh c�ng t?i Marikana zh:????????Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2012/09/04/South_Africas_New_Martyrs_and_Labor_Consciousness_Movement/
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