The Marikana Massacre
Watershed in the history of post-apartheid South Africa?
Cape Town, 18th September 2012
Arnold Wehmhoerner
FEPS correspondent for Southern Africa
For further information please contact Ernst STETTER, FEPS Secretary General at [email protected] or David KITCHING, FEPS Policy Advisor at [email protected]
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On 16th August 2012 police opened fire at striking workers of the Marikana platinum mine in South
Africa killing 36 miners. Autopsies later revealed that most of them had been shot in the back.
Violence surrounding this strike cost the lives of 44 persons, among them two police officers who
were hacked to death. The police shooting was obviously an act of revenge although the police
claimed that they had reacted in self-defence. 270 arrested workers were charged with murder under
a “common purpose” clause dating back to apartheid times, meaning whoever is engaged in an illegal
action is responsible for whatever follows out of this action. The charge was later withdrawn due to
the protest of a disbelieving South African public.
The mines are not only the most important economic sector for South Africa but what happens there
has always been an indicator for the political state of the country. Originally built on migrant workers
the sector has relied on cheap black labour up to today. During apartheid the NUM, the National
Union of Mineworkers, was able to organise this sector efficiently and, with this union strength,
became one of the most important political organisations in the fight against apartheid. Today, at
Marikana the NUM representative did not even dare to confront strikers in person but could only
speak to them from a police vehicle and through loudspeakers. At another strike a NUM
representative lost an eye when workers threw stones at him. The once powerful NUM has lost its
political leadership role for workers in South Africa.
In the past weeks thousands of disgruntled workers went on illegal strikes denouncing the leadership
of the NUM. A rival union has emerged, the Association of Mine and Construction Workers (AMCU)
which is more militant. It has become an accepted organisation for many mine workers. Critics claim
that AMCU is intentionally stirring up violence at strikes to increase the pressure on management.
Patterns of strikes in the platinum mines in the Rustenberg area reveal that violence has become
routine and workers feel that it is working for them. Earlier this year, through an illegal strike at
Implats they ended up getting more outside the bargaining agreement. The risk is known; some were
dismissed, but most of them got their job back. A researcher explains that workers have become more
fragmented. ”Some are residing in informal settlements outside the mines; some live still in hostels
and some black workers occupy more skilled positions than others. Violence is used as a way of
enforcing solidarity”.1 And he states that AMCU is like NUM 30 years ago, “an upstart union stepping
in to fill a void of disgruntlement.”2
Many of the former NUM leaders have moved to government positions or have joined the new class
of black businessmen. Like in Namibia from the union NUNW to the party SWAPO there has also been
in South Africa a continuous brain drain from the unions to the ANC and into government positions or
into business through BEE (Black Economic Empowerment). After 1994 (end of apartheid) NUM
started an investment arm which is now valued at 2.8 billion Rand (€280 million). NUM leaders have
become top business managers. The former NUM Secretary General Ramaphosa has a 50% stake in
Incwala Resources, Lonmin’s black economic empowerment partner (Lonmin is the company that
owns the Marikana mine). He has donated 2 million Rand to the families of the deceased miners, but
was prepared in April to pay 19.5 million Rand for a buffalo at an auction.
1
Crispen Chinguno, PhD candidate at Wits University cited in Kwanele Sosibo: „Lonmin crisis: A tinderbox of discontent“ Mail
& Guardian Online, 17.08.2012
2
Sosibo, 2012
2
Union members observe the lavish lifestyle of their union and party leaders and are at the same time
told that their wage demands are too high. The median monthly wage in mining is 4.743 Rand (€474)
and is already higher than in other sectors. In contrast the average yearly remuneration of CEOs in the
mining sector during 2011 was 20.2 million Rand (€2.02 million).3 In the worker’s minds, black
entrepreneurs are no better as employers. Workers were left unpaid in the Grootvlei mine shortly
after the mine was taken over by Aurora Empowerment Systems, a company partly owned by
President Zuma’s nephew Khubulus Zuma and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela.
On the background of these developments it is not surprising that NUM has lost its credibility with
workers. It fits into this picture that NUM is conspicuously silent on the issue of the nationalisation of
the mines. This issue is brought into the public debate time and again by the leaders of the ANC Youth
League. The union had a clear resolution that the mines should be nationalised. 4 To keep numb on this
issue raises the suspicion that the interests of some leaders are protected. If the NUM leaders have
changed their opinion on this issue i.e. to be against nationalisation, than they should have started a
debate on the pro and cons of nationalisation.
Is the massacre at the Marikana mine an isolated incident? As explained above violence has become
part of the bargaining process in the mine sector. But also in other sectors of the South African society
violence has become a common feature. Almost daily newspapers report on so called “service delivery
protests”. Still millions of South Africans live in informal settlements without electricity, water or
sanitation. During the writing of this report hundreds of protesters blocked for hours the important
national highway N1 which leads into Cape Town. During the protest the police run out of rubber
bullets and tear gas. The community leader responsible for the protests said: “We were promised
formal houses, flush toilets, tarred roads, electricity and running water and we want these promises
fulfilled. We are prepared to die until our demands are met.”5 In that particular community many
households have been on the housing waiting list for 20 years. These “service delivery protests” have
occurred in South Africa since 2004 and happen mostly in informal settlements where people live in
shacks. The incidents have been continuously on the increase up to today and quite a few have ended
tragically with people being killed.
Another form of violence that seems to be on the increase is mob justice in townships. Within one
year up to today in Khayelitsha, one of the largest townships in Cape Town, 14 people have been killed
by vigilantes. The insufficient police presence in the townships but in particular the slow judicial
process until someone is finally imprisoned, fuels the anger of township residents. Known thieves are
released on bail again and again because of insufficient evidence produced in court. This is conceived
by the local community as lack of necessary prosecution and leads them to take justice into their own
hands. Some of the vigilantes have been caught and sentenced to life imprisonment, but the police
have difficulties to control this problem.
South Africa has one of the most unequal societies of the world. Many observers have predicted long
ago that the current levels of poverty and vast inequality cannot be maintained. 6 The government’s
excuse has always been that it takes time to correct the legacy of apartheid. This was again offered by
3
SA cannot afford the cost of cheap labour in Cape Times, 31.08.2012
A union’s striking fall from grace in Mail and Guardian, 7.- 13.0 9.2012
5
Cape Times, 11.09.2012
6
Moeletsi Mbeki
4
3
President Zuma in a recent speech: “There are still glaring backlogs in service delivery after 18 years of
democracy – and apartheid is to blame for it”.7 There is no question that the new democratic
government faced a Herculean task in transforming the society. The lack of schools and trained
teachers are delaying the development of a sound educational base which is a prerequisite for a
modern society and economy. The new leadership, especially at local levels, was and often still is
inexperienced in running a modern administration, in particular in the technical sectors. On the
economic front the new ANC leadership soon realised that the nationalisation of mines and large
companies is not possible for South Africa’s globally integrated economy. They had to follow the path
of globalisation and exposure to international competition. As a result, low skilled jobs in
manufacturing, especially textiles, disappeared under the competition from Asia. 22% of the
economically active population is unemployed and 11% are discouraged job seekers. Youth make up
70%8 of the unemployed, which understandably creates a huge potential for dissatisfaction and
therewith violence.
The South African Institute of Race Relations in a recent press release states that President Zuma is
correct when he describes service delivery as a success. Over the period from 1996 to 2010 the
number of households living in formal houses has increased by 86%, the number of households with
access to electricity increased by 127.9% and the number of households with access to piped water
increased by 76.6%. The institute states that this service delivery success together with increased
access to social welfare, which now reaches 15 million people, “are responsible for the fact that the
proportion of South Africans living on less than $2 per day has declined from 12% in 1994, and a peak
of 17% in 2002, to just 5% today”.9 And the institute’s representative Frans Cronje continues: “There is
no contradiction between the successes we identify and the protests that are commonplace around
the country. These protests are not a function of the failure of delivery but rather in that this success
has raised expectations that cannot be met because of shortcomings in the school system and the
labour market.”
President Zuma has set up a judicial commission of inquiry to report within four months on the
Marikana massacre. The results will probably only been known after the ANC congress in Mangaung
(16–20 December 2012). Then Zuma will stand for re-election as ANC president and therewith
candidate for the next presidential elections in 2013. He seems to be buying time amid growing
criticism about his lack of leadership. Can he just remain quiet as he has done in face of the tragic
events and in face of how the police and the National Prosecution Agency (NPA) have handled the
massacre? The new National Police Commissioner just stated without further explanation or any selfcriticism that the police were acting in self-defence, although most of the strikers had been shot in the
back and the NPA had the insensitivity to charge the arrested strikers with murder.
Zuma’s sit-out strategy may not work. The Marikana miners have not yet returned to work, five weeks
after the beginning of the strike. This is a precondition for mediation efforts. On the contrary, the
strike has spread to other mines in the Rustenburg belt. Some mines were closed by companies “to
protect its employees against outside intimidation”.10 Share prices of mining companies are falling
while the price of platinum on the world market is soaring. The mining troubles are a threat to the
7
Cape Times, 11.09.2012
Diane Janzen: Political finger-pointing ignores increasing desperation of unemployed in Cape Times 13.09.2012
9
South African Institute of Race Relations, Press Release 11. 09.2012
10
Mining Troubles snowball in Business Times 13.09.2012
8
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already widening current account deficit of South Africa letting the Rand slip. The Marikana strike is no
longer a strike like many others which can be left to the normal collective bargaining procedures and
mediation efforts. A decisive and unconventional intervention of the national leadership is required,
but is not forthcoming.
ANC leaders do not dare to come close to striking workers while the expelled ANC Youth League
president, Julius Malema, is welcomed by them as a hero. Being now outside the ANC, he vigorously
attacks President Zuma, demands the resignation of the NUM leadership, and calls for a general strike
to bring the entire mining sector to a standstill. Malema as a known populist is following flash points in
the mining sector to mobilise against Zuma’s faction in the ANC. But he puts his fingers into the
wound. Some believe that “after Marikana, working class support and commitment to the ANC and its
monopoly of power is unhinged”.11 The same commentator also believes that “the Marikana moment
is also strengthening the tide for a post-national liberation and post-neoliberal politics in South
Africa”.12
However, neither President Zuma nor Vice-President Motlanthe, who will probably stand for election
against Zuma at the Mangaung congress, has hinted that they are considering a review of the basic
ideology of the ANC. But events may change this. The way the NUM lost its leadership role for the
workers in the mining sector is a stern warning to the ANC. It may be easier to form rival organizations
in the union sector than in the party arena but the apodictic certainty in the ANC to be the leading
party is lost. At this stage of South Africa’s history one may not wish the disintegration of the ANC
which is a stabilizing factor since apartheid times. One may also not wish that the ANC leadership
submits to the calls of the populists for radical nationalisation. The deep integration of South Africa in
the world economy requires a careful handling of any state intervention in the basic structures of the
economy.
In its latest report the IMF assesses that South Africa has a stable and resilient economy “but one that
could do better”.13 The IMF argues that the country needs to take more action to create labourintensive growth and mentioned its concern about the country’s growing public sector wage bill. The
fund welcomed the focus on job creation in the government’s New Growth Plan and the Draft
Development Plan but says “concrete action is needed to implement this”. The lack of implementation
capacity is a problem and Prof. Luiz from the University of Cape Town believes that South Africa’s
problem is brought about by a “combination of incompetence, patronage and an unimaginative, very
traditional economic model”.14 There are positive examples among similar countries and in this
connection he refers to Brazil with its progressive social spending and its industrial policy.
After the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, when 69 protesters were killed by the police, it was obvious to
all inside and outside the country that apartheid was an ideology without a future. After Marikana it is
obvious that a country with such huge differences in standards of living cannot continue to exist
peacefully. After Sharpeville it took 34 years to achieve democracy in South Africa. How long will it
take after Marikana to achieve an inclusive economy which is the base for a peaceful South African
society?
11
Vishwas Satgar: Marikana marks rift in ANC ideology in Mail and Guardian, 07 – 13. 09. 2012
Vishwas Satgar, 2012
13
www.southafrica.info, 24.08.2012
14
Prof. John Luiz, e-mail interview with Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com, 11.09.2012
12
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