Num – praag.org

SA mining safety lagging behind

The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) says the country’s mining sector is still far lagging behind in implementing the required health and safety measures.

The union concedes that, although strides are being made by mining houses to improve safety, some mining companies are still prioritising profit over the Health and Safety of miners.

These safety concerns are expected to be on top of the agenda when the Union commemorates the death of over a hundred mine-workers at Vaal Reefs Mine twenty years ago.

They died when a locomotive fell into a shaft, landing on a cage in the mine at Orkney in the North West in May 1995.

NUM’s national spokesperson, Livhuwani Mammburu says there are still sporadic incidents: “We think that there must be a space for a free environment, and as the NUM we don’t think there is. We think that recent incidents in the mining sector highlights yet another gap that we have in terms of health and safety.”

Amcu miners eating human flesh for muti commission hears

“We took some of the flesh of the security [officer]. It was to make our muti strong.”

This was one of the confessions made by Mr X during his first day of testifying at the Marikana commission on Thursday.

Mr X, who was one of the striking miners at Marikana in 2012, is under police witness protection and his long-awaited testimony is now being heard in-camera.

While his evidence was being led by Advocate Frank Mathibedi, who represents the South African Police Service (SAPS), Mr X told how they took pieces of flesh from one of the Lonmin security guards who was killed by the striking miners on August 12 2012. They did this on the instruction of inyangas (traditional healers) to make the muti, used during the rituals with the strikers, strong.

According to Mr X, the muti and rituals were to protect the strikers. “An inyanga would make people brave, who would lead the warriors,” he told the commission through an isiXhosa interpreter. “The inyanga was going to make us not subject to being shot [and] lock the fire arms if we’re being shot at.”

Upon being shown a photo of the inyangas’ rag with lions printed on it, Mr X slowly started singing a song the strikers made up while on the koppie taking part in the rituals. “The lion from Bezana, the lion that eats people,” he sang in his low, husky voice. The significance of this song has not yet emerged.

A “committee” of 15 people were chosen by the strikers to undergo these rituals. It was these 15 who were the leaders of the strikers, and responsible for conveying messages between the inyangas and other strikers.

March to NUM
When questioned by Mathibedi on why the mine workers marched to National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) offices on August 11 2012, Mr X insisted that “we had gone to kill [them]”.

Mathibedi referred to three instances where other mine workers testified to other reasons why they had marched to the NUM offices, namely to ask them why the union was preventing the mine workers from talking to Lonmin management; and to deal with allegations that strikers had been assaulted and forced to go to work by NUM officials while they were on strike.

But Mr X remained insistent that the reason they marched to the NUM offices was to kill the people inside. “We were armed, Mr Chairperson, with pangas and spears. We were going to kill [them] in the office,” he said.

Initial meetings
Mr X also spoke about the initial meetings held by the mine workers on August 9 and 10 2012 to discuss their wage demands and plan of action with each other.

It was on August 10 that miners marched “peacefully” to the offices of Lonmin management to make their requests known, by writing their wage demands on a piece of cardboard.

Mr X told how after 15 minutes a “white man” – one of Lonmin’s management – emerged from the office. “He said the demands would be addressed by the union in 2013, and that is the agreement with the union. [He said] go back to work [and that] our strike is illegal.”

The miners then decided they would take action against those miners who returned to work and would also take steps against the refusal of Lonmin to address their wage demands.

Objection
The testimony of Mr X got off to a slow start, as technicians fine-tuned the video link through which he is testifying, but also due to a lengthy objection by Advocate Dali Mpofu, who represents the injured and arrested mine workers.

Mr X, a miner under police protection, has testified about removing “pieces of human flesh” from a murdered security guard to make their muti stronger.

They did this on the instruction of inyangas (witchdocters) to make the muti, used during the rituals with the Amcu-strikers, strong.

The significance of this song has not yet emerged.

When questioned by Mathibedi on why the mine workers marched to National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) offices on August 11 2012, Mr X insisted that “we had gone to kill [them]”.

Mr X’s testimony continues on Friday.

Source: M&G

Medupi workers to join strike

Thousands of workers have been protesting outside the Medupi power site at Lephalale in Limpopo.

The action is part of the nationwide strike in the construction sector where workers are demanding 12% salary increase across the board.

The site is, however, open as the strike doesn’t involve the metal workers.

NUM spokesperson Taylor Jiya says they’ll continue protesting until an agreement is reached.

“As you know Medupi has a lot of contractors within the project. We’re a majority I believe even in construction nationally because 50% of the contractors are at Medupi.”

“Picketing started yesterday at Medupi and we will continue up until Safsec reach an agreement with the unions that are representing a working class within the construction industry,” he added.

S. Africa’s Zuma urges peace on Marikana anniversary

President Jacob Zuma called for reflection to restore peace in South Africa’s mining industry Wednesday, days before the first anniversary of police shooting dead strikers in the Marikana tragedy.

Friday marks a year after police opened fire on thousands of strikers at platinum producer Lonmin’s mine northwest of Johannesburg which killed 34 and injured 78 people.

Two days before the commemoration the firm recognised radical labour group AMCU, which led the wage strike, in an attempt to ease simmering inter-union tensions on the platinum belt.

“The incident of the 16th (of August) in particular shocked the whole country and caused untold pain and numbness amongst all South Africans,” Zuma said in a statement.

“It was a tragic and sad loss of life,” he added.

“We must all resolve to do everything possible to prevent a repeat of similar incidents.”

Demands for higher salaries sparked last year’s wildcat strikes.

Workers flocked to join the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), abandoning the once-dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in droves because it was perceived to protect the mine management’s interests rather than that of labourers.

AMCU now represents 70 percent of Lonmin’s 27,000 employees, stealing the majority position from NUM, which is left with 20 percent of the membership.

The August shooting was described as the worst police brutality since the end of apartheid two decades ago.

But in the preceding week at least 10 people, including two policemen, were killed in clashes between the workers.

Following the massacre strikes spread quickly across the platinum industry and some gold mines, bringing an economic lifeblood to a standstill for months.

Mine stoppages in 2012 cost Africa’s largest economy 15.3 billion rand ($1.2 billion, 1.5 billion euro).

In the year since the bloodbath the union struggle for supremacy and ensuing benefits left a trail of bodies in its wake.

At least eight prominent members from both AMCU and NUM have been murdered, the latest victim a local NUM leader who was gunned down in front of her house on Monday.

Most victims were NUM members, and attackers periodically threatened the NUM to leave the mine.

“What is happening in Marikana does not only disrupt the community there, it disrupts economic growth,” said police commissioner Riah Phiyega launching a crime combating initiative in the town on Wednesday.

At least 13 murders occurred in the area in recent months, she added.

AMCU’s recognition as majority organisation seemed auspicious to calm hostilities in Marikana two days before the memorial of a massacre which has seen little retribution.

An inquiry Zuma set up to probe the killings is yet to conclude its work and lawyers representing wounded workers have pulled out over lack of funding.

The agreement “signals a new era”, according to Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara, who vowed that “we’ll put all we can to ensure peace and stability”.

AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa urged a partnership to end acrimony between mine managers and labourers.

“We acknowledge that without cooperation we are all losers and that as leaders, we must find a way to ensure we can move forward together in peace and stability,” he said.

Labour analyst Daniel Silke believes that AMCU’s recognition will give it a sense of accomplishment, but won’t stop the NUM from reclaiming its position.

“In the short term, I think it’s positive on the mines,” said Silke.

Zuma urged unity in mining “so as to create an environment conducive to development”.

“Workers and managers must go to work without fear that anyone would harm them. Workers must be free to excercise their Constitutional right to join any trade union of their choice,” he added. – Sapa-AFP

NUM would not comment on Vavi rape allegations

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) would not comment on rape allegations against Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi until it heard from the trade union federation, it said on Monday.

“It will be irresponsible to make statements at this stage,” NUM general secretary Frans Baleni told reporters in Johannesburg after the union’s national executive committee meeting.

“We do not want to engage on details about this matter until it is formally brought to us,” he said.

Vavi has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a married woman who was employed by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and claimed she later tried to extort R2 million from him.

He denied raping her, and said the sex was consensual.

However, she brought a complaint of sexual harassment against him. An internal grievance proceeding was being held on Monday morning

Baleni said the union would wait for internal processes regarding the matter to take place. – Sapa

‘ANC is coming unstuck’

A poor showing by the ruling party at next year’s general election will likely cost President Jacob Zuma his job, political analyst Nic Borain said on Thursday.

Speaking at a Cape Town Press Club lunch, he said the signs were that “the ANC’s glue is coming unstuck” after the Marikana shootings last year.

“They [the ANC] are taking this 2014 election extremely seriously. They’re going to fight tooth and nail to [win it].

“They know that if they drop below 60%, they’re in trouble. Jacob Zuma will be in trouble… “

Responding to questions, Borain – a local independent analyst, who spoke on “the impact of the current mining troubles” in South Africa – suggested the rise of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) was a turning point for ANC supporters.

Support for it had been triggered by unhappiness with the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

“There was a huge defection [from] the ANC support base in the platinum sector.”

This had later spread to the gold sector, where it had risen – according to some sources – to 30%.

“Jacob Zuma is now losing support among urban black people,” Borain said.

Prediction

Asked to predict the likely showing of the ANC at next year’s elections, he said a “worst-case scenario” was the ANC retained 65% of the vote.

He suggested a more-likely “best scenario” would see the ANC get 59% of the vote. This, he said, would lead to ANC leaders negotiating a “controlled exit” for Zuma, who would want to be assured he could leave with his wealth intact and not facing corruption charges.

“The ANC is not going to accept this kind of loss.”

Borain said a third scenario, involving the ANC garnering only 51% of the vote, was “very scary”.

“If that happens, all bets are off.”

Pushed to suggest how political parties might fare in the coming election, he estimated the ANC would take 58%, the DA 26%, a figure he later revised to 30%, and newly-formed Agang SA about 2%.

On the DA, Borain said the main opposition party would find it “difficult to overcome barriers to its growth”.

On the future prospects of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – whose leadership he described as “the clowns and fools of our politics” – Borain said they could take up to 5% of the vote.

“But I can’t see them getting out to vote,” he added. – Sapa

Liv Shange back to stir up trouble in mining sector

Activist Liv Shange arrived back in South Africa yesterday and vowed to continue her fight for workers’ rights in the mines, in the platinum belt and beyond.

She and her political party had expressed concern that she would be denied entry to South Africa after she had difficulty getting a visa and was blamed by the ANC for strife in the platinum belt.

Shange has been married to a South African for nine years and has lived here since 2003.

She is a founder of the newly formed Workers’ and Socialist Party, much of the membership of which is drawn from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

Shange was granted a spousal visa after her marriage in 2004 but her passport was stolen in 2010.

She has been waiting for a new visa for her passport since 2011.

She had not had difficulty travelling on the strength of her pending application until recently.

Last month Shange was fined about R2000 when she arrived in Sweden because her tourist visa had expired.

She was told by the South African embassy that she could not return to South Africa with her three children at the end of the school holidays but would have to re-apply for a spousal visa.

Shange has been singled out by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe as being behind the strife in Marikana.

“What is happening in Marikana … I can give you what comes out of that information. Anarchy, anarchy, anarchy – driven by people who are from far away. Sweden, Irish,” said Mantashe in June.

When pressed, Mantashe said: “The reality is that it is a Swedish citizen who is at the centre of anarchy in the platinum belt. I did not suck it out of my thumb.”

Shange spoke out yesterday against the recent mining peace accord, saying it did not benefit the workers.

Amcu workers did not sign the agreement brokered by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Shange vowed to keep fighting for better pay for mineworkers and is joining Amcu in its demand for a minimum R12 500 a month for miners.

“I will continue to play a role, as I have always done in Marikana, creating unity among mineworkers.”

She slammed Matashe’s comments.

“Blaming foreigners for strikes is an insult to the workers.”

Shange said she was not surprised by reports that she was being investigated by state security agencies.

President Jacob Zuma also recently hit out at “shadowy international elements and movements” for stirring up trouble on the platinum mines.

Mantashe told an audience in Sandton in June that events like Marikana were the result of “anarchy, anarchy, anarchy, driven by people who are from far away…Sweden, Irish”.

Irish Socialist Party MP Joe Higgins has had long had ties to South Africa’s labour movement, and was present earlier this year when the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) was launched.

Comments made to the Sunday Independent by anonymous officials within police, intelligence and Home Affairs suggests a targeted probing of Shange’s revolutionary activities.

The Swedish national met her black husband, Xolani Shange, in Belgium in 2002. They were both attending the world congress of the Committee for a Workers’ International.

She was a member of a Swedish socialist group at the time, while Xolani was attending the event as a delegate for South Africa’s Democratic Socialist Movement. She moved to SA to ‘study’, but her aim was to start a revolutionary movement.

Shange enrolled for a BA in Zulu and Economic History at the University of KwaZulu Natal in January 2004. By December she had married to Xolani Shange, and thus entitled to a spousal visa.

Shange admits that she played a central part in the organising of mineworkers in Rustenburg last year, saying that she and other members of the DSM played the role of “unifier and coordinator”, linking up workers’ committees at different mining houses and bringing Rustenburg workers together with striking mineworkers in Gauteng and Limpopo. “We contributed towards harnessing the strength of the strike action by linking the workers together and coordinating the action,” she says.

Shange was mugged in 2010, and her passport – with her spousal permit inside – was stolen. When she applied for a transfer of her spousal permit, Home Affairs informed her that there was no record of such a document existing, and that her continuing presence in South Africa was illegal. Her re-application for an extension of the permit was denied, she says, and she has heard nothing since from her appeal against this decision and re-lodging of the application.

The Sunday Independent reported that Swedish diplomats had protested against the government’s comments. Shange denies that she appealed for assistance from the Swedish embassy, but it seems that they offered it anyway.

In fact, the Swedish embassy was instructed by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs to lodge the complaint, according to some reports.

According to Section 29 of the Immigration Act, anyone who has been convicted for genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, and similarly serious crimes, can be prohibited from entering the country. Alternatively, the Minister of Home Affairs has the authority to declare an individual believed to be a danger to the country in some way an “undesirable person”.

Such a person has to receive a notification. “If you haven’t received that, you can’t be an undesirable person,” a lawyer familiar with the matter, explained. – timeslive.co.za

South African mining crisis puts traditional unions on the spot

marikana_mourners — Miners assembling on a hillside in Marikana to mourn their colleagues killed by police

The violent crisis that has shaken South Africa’s mines shows workers’ distrust for traditional trade unions, up to now the guardians of social peace despite the country’s deep inequality.

Miners this week clawed record salary increases of 22 percent from the Lonmin platinum mine operators after a near six-week wildcat strike that killed 46.

Having rejected major player the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), miners appointed their own representatives at the negotiations.

The unprecedented agreement may upend the whole mining industry, a fifth of the GDP of Africa’s largest economy, analysts said, and bodes ill for the country’s powerful trade union federation COSATU, and NUM, its main member.

Wildcat strikes have already spread to other gold, platinum and chrome mines, including world number one Anglo American Platinum and Gold Fields.

“Marikana holds the potential for an era in South African labour relations where violent strike action forces the hand of weakened management as opposed to historical collective bargaining promoted by COSATU and its affiliate unions,” said independent analyst Daniel Silke.

The country’s labour movement has been formalised for decades, and representative unions have exclusive negotiation rights with employers in an extremely structured process.

Unions also formed a formidable opposition to the white minority regime during apartheid. Since its inception in 1985, COSATU was affiliated with the African National Congress.

This alliance helped to avoid major social unrest when the ANC took over government in 1994 after the first all-race elections, and COSATU only gained in power through the deal.

But now the partnership threatens to taint the federation.

“COSATU has moved away from its roots to become a political organisation, while its supposed to be a labour movement,” economist Dawie Roodt told AFP.

On the ground, mineworkers say they live in hell, pointing to shacks without electricity, water or sanitation.

“Because of the separation between the grassroots and leadership, the mine worker feels his interests are not being protected anymore. This guy from the union is more interested to become a mine shareholder, and has forgotten about the worker’s wages,” said Roodt.

But it has not all been bad. The Chamber of Mines has said workers have it good compared to others in South Africa amid a 40 percent unemployment rate.

“The National Union of Mineworkers has done too good a job for its members over the past 30 years, especially the past 10, getting its members double-digit, double-inflation wage increases with no increases in productivity,” Peter Major, mining and resources head at consulting company Cadiz Corporate Solutions, wrote in the weekly Mail & Guardian.

Now, the same workers are abandoning the old guilds in favour of new ones, like the Association for Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which has been blamed for inciting the violence at Lonmin.

Other miners go it alone. Wildcat strikes have increased since the start of the year. They often erupt into violence, with intimidation against non-strikers. Some clashes spill explode into deadly violence.

Police shot dead 34 people on August 16 at the Marikana mine, a week after clashes between workers left 10 dead. Two people died in subsequent violence.

“The key issue here is whether the trade union movement, whether COSATU itself, can keep a handle on the more militant workers who have smelled blood with management as a result of Marikana,” said Silke.

“The pressure will really be on COSATU to retain a level of organisation …to attempt to elicit a better deal for members or face the potential of political polarisation.”

Unions were losing membership “without a doubt”, added Roodt.

“The political outcome will be (that) we need a separation between labour and government. (The situation) is untenable.” – Sapa

Did South African police kill at Marikana to help black billionaire Ramaphosa’s finances?

lonmim-massacre — The scene at Marikana, north west of Johannesburg, last week

Over the past few days PRAAG obtained new information about the Marikana massacre that is currently still making frontpage news in South Africa. It appears as if the miners of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) were deliberately murdered by the police as part of a campaign to get rid of the bothersome union.

AMCU was busy replacing the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) as the majority union at the mine. The NUM is affiliated with COSATU, which is a member of the ANC regime’s so-called “tripartite alliance”. Before the shooting started, police ordered the media to leave the area.

Lauren Clifford-Holmes, the multimedia editor for the Johannesburg Mail & Guardian, was prevented last Thursday night from speaking to injured mineworkers. However, she stumbled upon two workers at Lonmin who confirmed that strife between the two trade unions was responsible for the problems, as NUM representatives were not re-elected by dissatisfied miners.

Black businessman and high-ranking ANC politician, Cyril Ramaphosa, apparently owns a contract to supply labour to the Lonmin mine at Marikana via his company Shanduka. “Ramaphosa and the NUM is practising a form of slave labour at the mine,” a source said at Marikana. “He is supplying labour at about R12 000 ($1500) per worker per month, but only pay his workers R4000 ($500) per month, thereby pocketing the difference. As a former NUM chief, he is able to control the union leaders and sees to it that he maintains this grotesque form of exploitation.”

However, NUM’s rival, AMCU, demands that the R12 000 received by Shanduka as labour broker in terms of the contract, should be paid directly to workers. Particularly the rock drillers, who perform the most difficult and dangerous work, felt that they were entitled to this wage, given that this was the tariff already received by Cyril Ramaphosa’s company for work at the mine.

An ex-policeman that PRAAG spoke to, but who prefers to remain anonymous, said that judging from the photographs he had seen, the workers were not attacking the police, but were fleeing from an area where a second police contingent was throwing tear gas at them. “One could see how some of them were trying to protect their eyes and faces. They thought they were fleeing to a safe place, where the heavily armed policemen mowed them down with automatic weapons, however,” said the ex-policeman.

The motive for the mass murder at the Lonmin mine at Marikana was apparently the protection of Shanduka’s lucrative service contract for supplying labour to the mine. Shanduka has already annouced that it will donate R2 million for the funeral of the 34 workers.

The workers are mostly from Lesotho, an independent country, and areas in the Eastern Cape. It would therefore be difficult for them to defend their rights and lives against the ANC-controlled state, cooperating closely with the British-controlled mining company. Until now, the only questions abut the massacre have come from black politicians and activists from outside governing ANC circles.

A group known as the September National Imbizi did a local investitagion and talked to an eyewitness alleging that the mineworkers were “drawn into an ambush” and that they were first bombarded with a “blue substance”, after which they were shot dead during the confusion. Many were executed while trying to hide among rocks and under bushes. On the websit of September National Imbizo, the eyewitness is referred to as “our friend”:

“…our friend shows us how several people were shot while they were hiding between the rocks and under bushes. We see for ourselves splatters of blood that indicate the determination to dig workers out of their hiding holes and shoot them dead. All sorts of items of clothing and shoes, soiled with blood lie all around the scene.”

The website also claims:

“What is clear from what we are told is that this was an ambush. The video material in mainstream media showing workers charging at the police was in fact workers running away from bullets being hurled from behind. Why would workers, armed with knobkierries [African-style clubs – ed.] charge at armed police? The workers were completely surrounded and what we’ve been seeing in the media is only half the story. There was clearly a mission: shoot to kill, thus the deployment of the army.”

Other strange incidents took place.

The media were kept away from the scene for hours so that it would be difficult to reconstruct the exact events. A contact of The Star newspaper was shot dead during the massacre. The police also forced a photographer from the Johannesburg Mail & Guardian to delete his photographs. Why were the police so scared that particular evidence regarding the shooting would leak out?

A video shown in the Netherlands, contained a Vodafone ambulance on the scene. The same vido was later shown in South Africa on News24.com, but without the ambulance, indicating that the video must have been edited.

Beforehand SAPA reported the following statement by the leader of the AMCU:

“We are not safe. Our phones have been tapped,” the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathenjwa told a crowd in the Wonderkop informal settlement at Lonmin.

“We have been democratically colonised – workers work under very harsh conditions.”

After the massacre Mathenjwa demanded a really independent investigation, but the ANC simply appointed one of its own ministers, Collins Chabane, to lead the commission of enquiry. Under the previous, so-called “apartheid government” judges were always appointed to commissions of enquiry.

What Mathenjwa is probably referring to when he talks of “democratic colonisation”, is that workers are paid R4000 per month while Cyril Ramphosa is receiving three times as much per worker.

A Johannesburg businessman PRAAG spoke to and who is also in the services sector, confirmed that the ANC’s cadres have virtually instituted a system of “slave labour” in the country. The former officers of their militia, Umkhonto we Sizwe, is currently providing labour to the mines by recruting foreigners. Few, if any, mines still employ workers directly.

“Everything which the ANC described as apartheid, including the system of migrant labour, now applies, except in a far worse degree,” said the businessman. “The ANC’s cadres control everything. They have dug themselves into all sectors of the economy. They do not rule, they are in business. The state is for them just another business, with resources that they may use to enrich themselves. That is what BEE stands for, Black Elite Enrichment.”

Among those state resources controlled by the ANC, is the police force. Was it used to punish the AMCU and “make an example” of the rival union? In the run-up to the 1994 elections the ANC committed necklace murders against so-called “sell-outs”. Where tens of millions of rand are at issue in the provision of labour to a mine, one may therefore expect that an organisation as ruthless as the ANC will use all means at its disposal to eliminate a rival.

During the shooting a journalist from The Star, Poloko Tau, tweeted from the scene: “Auto guns creacking [sic] and cocked like 100 at a time, scary … warzone down here, 1st shot fired … journalist running, diving and hiding amid shots, water canon spewing water at the strikers … my contact has just been shot dead …”

After the Marikana massacre, some people simply “disappeared”. SAPA reported the following:

“Around 100 women arrived at the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court outside Pretoria today where more than 250 protesters were expected to appear for public violence.

One woman, Nombulelo Jali, 37, wept hysterically. She said police did not know what happened to her husband Themba Khalo Jali, 40, who she says was arrested on Thursday.

‘I have come all the way from Harding in KwaZulu-Natal but we can’t find him. We have frantically searched everywhere and we can’t locate him. Police took him,’ said Jali.”

Julius Malema alleges that many of the striking workers are currently detained “irregularly in a private prison”. His friend and ex-colleague from the ANC Youth League, Floyd Shivambu, also said that many of the workers were shot in the back, which would indicate that they were running away from the police when they were shot.

This could not be verified, as a security blanket has been pulled over the area and journalists are not allowed at the mine hospital.

The narrow links between the British-controlled mining houses and the ANC may be traced back many decades. The first contact between the Afrikaner establishment and the exiled ANC was arranged by the mining company Consolidated Goldfields in England during the eighties. On that occasion Thabo Mbeki and Willie Esterhuyse met each other. Their relationship later played a crucial role in the capitulation of the Afrikaner government as Esterhuyse had persuaded several cabinet ministers that the ANC could be “trusted”.

The mining houses also played a leading role in portraying the ANC as the new government for South Africa and probably entered into private agreements with the so-called “liberation movement”.

Yesterday the chairman of Lonmin, Roger Phillimore, blamed “apartheid” for the poor conditions in which his mineworkers have to live, knowing that Shanduka and Lonmin are pocketing the greater share of the mine’s income for themselves.

Julius Malema held Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa responsible for the mass murder: “They presided over the massacre of our people… Not even the apartheid government killed as many.”

It is unclear whether the police’s actions will be investigated internally, as the executive director of South Africa’s Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Mr. Francois Beukman, has recently resigned “to pursue other interests”. He is leaving the service at the end of the month. His contract would only have expired in August 2014. At any rate, the new national police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, does not consider the shooting of 34 people “to be a massacre”.

Marikana massacre makes world headlines

The bloodbath that claimed the lives of over 30 people in Marikana in the North West has made international headlines.

The Guardian, New York Times, Sky News, Denver Post, BBC, Washington Post, CNN, and several other media reported on the massacre.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia, put up a detailed one-page entry on it with references to local newspapers and reporters.

On Thursday, police opened fire with live ammunition on armed, striking workers who had gathered on a hill in the area.

Ten people, among them police and security guards, had already died since the start of their protest a week ago.

The protests were believed to be linked to rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union over recognition agreements at the mine.

Workers also wanted higher wages. They claimed to be earning R4000 a month, while those living outside the hostel were earning an extra R1000. Reported demands included pay of R12,500 a month.

On Friday, the NUM said the death toll in the shooting had risen to 36.

People around the world were using the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to share their views on who they believed were to blame for the bloodbath.

Some believed the police were accountable and asked why live ammunition had been used. Others shifted blame to the company for not giving in to the demands of poorly-paid workers.

The Guardian reported that the shooting had led to a drop in the company’s share price.

It said Lonmin’s shares dropped almost five percent in London and four percent in Johannesburg.

Lonmin executives said all its shafts across the South African platinum belt, which account for 12 percent of global supply, were closed to all but essential services, such as ventilation.

Although the price of platinum had fallen steeply in the past six months, the spot price rose two percent on Tuesday in the wake of the violence, it said.

Lonmin executive vice-president Barnard Mokwena was quoted as saying: “Until the place is safe we don’t want to talk about production.”

South Africa accounts for about three-quarters of the world’s platinum, which is used to make catalytic converters in cars.

London-based Lonmin told the Guardian that 96 percent of its production comes from Marikana. – Sapa

Nine dead in clashes between black unions at Lonmin mine

The situation at the Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West was stable on Tuesday morning following the deaths of nine people, police said.

Captain Dennis Adriao said police had been monitoring the situation at the mine where violence had erupted from Friday.

“At this stage no other incidents were reported throughout Monday night.”

Nine people — two police officers, two security guards, three protesters and two other men — had been killed by 8.30pm on Monday.

The deaths were linked to violence apparently triggered by union rivalry.

Adriao said the two police officers were killed on Monday afternoon and three protesters were shot dead.

One other police officer was critically injured, he said.

About 3000 Lonmin rock drill operators started an illegal work stoppage and protest march on Friday.

Earlier, officials from the platinum mine announced that the body of a man was found on the premises. He had been shot dead.

Adriao said the man’s death was believed to be linked to the violence.

Another man died in hospital on Sunday after being hacked with a panga as he left the mine after the evening shift.

On Saturday, two security guards were killed when the car they were travelling in was set alight.

Scores of other people have been injured in the violent unrest in the last four days. Police also reported that eight vehicles were torched on the mine property on Sunday.

Violence at the Lonmin Marikana mine has been linked to clashes between members of the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which are reportedly fighting for control of local mines.

Lonmin has called for an end to the violence.

“Whilst our first thoughts must be with the families of those killed and injured in these criminal clashes, our operational priority is to see the violence stop,” says Lonmin CEO, Ian Farmer.

Num has condemned the violence and has called for immediate action from the police.

“[We are] alarmed at that the escalating violence has been allowed to continue unabated by the law enforcement agencies in that area in North West Province,” said Num general secretary Frans Baleni.

“We call for the deployment of a special task force or the SANDF to deal decisively with the criminal elements in Rustenburg and its surrounding mine.”

Baleni dismissed statements that it was a rivalry attack and said the Num was a victim of Amcu. By Monday afternoon, police had made no arrests.

In February, the two unions also clashed over membership at Impala Platinum’s mines in Rustenburg. – Sapa