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Lonmin's killing fields: the
inevitable, tragic next
move
On Thursday
morning, NUM's leaders warned that the situation
at the Marikana mine could result in deaths.
Several hours later, a dozen or so striking miners
were reported dead - shot by the police. The union
said that it did what it could to quell the
situation. Where was everybody else? By SIPHO
HLONGWANE.
Shortly after 16:00 on
Thursday afternoon, after another attempt at
negotiations had failed between representatives of
the platinum mining company Lonmin, the National
Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Association of
Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU) and a
large group of miners gathered at a nearby hilltop
in an illegal strike, heavily armed members of the
police's Tactical Response Team moved in on the
group of miners to disperse them. The police were
suddenly confronted by a smaller group who refused
to budge.
What happened next is unclear,
but there was a sudden rattle of gunfire and the
hiss of tear gas from the police line, and a few
minutes later, several bodies of miners were seen
lying on the ground. Whether they were dead or
just knocked unconscious could not be confirmed,
as the police quickly cordoned the area off. The
number of injured or dead was also still unclear
on Thursday night - the alleged number ranged from
seven to 18. The whole incident was caught in
jarring detail by television cameras and
photographers on site.
The shootings were
the end result of a situation that had started
last week on Friday, and had happened despite
warnings from various union leaders that this
could end in tragedy.
On Thursday morning,
at the NUM's national headquarters in
Johannesburg, both the president, Senzeni Zokwana,
and the general secretary, Frans Baleni, made it
clear that they were being asked to take charge of
a situation that was not of their making, nor
within their powers to solve. The matter should
have been resolved a lot sooner by a combination
of Lonmin's managers, the North-West provincial
commissioner of police (and his deployed
lieutenants) and the province's political
leadership. Instead, what was localised industrial
action has escalated into something much bigger.
On Wednesday, Lonmin, NUM and AMCU were
supposed to meet with the police to discuss how
the stand-off may be resolved. Zokwana and AMCU's
president, Joseph Mathunjwa, were all expected to
speak to the strikers - only AMCU's people were
allowed to approach. Lonmin reportedly did not put
anyone forward to speak. On Thursday, AMCU claimed
on the eNews Channel that it was told by Lonmin
that since the police had declared the hilltop an
operational area, it would no longer conduct any
type of negotiations. AMCU relayed the news to the
crowd, and then the police moved in to clear the
area.
On Thursday morning, NUM placed the
blame for the whole incident on Lonmin.
"The background to the violence at Lonmin
lies in the company's undermining bargaining
processes and structures. This trend has its roots
at Impala Platinum, where the company unilaterally
adjusted wages for certain categories of
employees, leaving others out," the union said in
a statement. "Lonmin followed suit. Ignoring an
existing collective agreement, the company
undermined the bargaining processes by
unilaterally offering an allowance of between R250
- R750 to rock-drill operators outside of the
bargaining processes."
Baleni said that
AMCU was a creation of BHP Billiton and the
Chamber of Mines, who wanted to create a rival to
weaken NUM. The leaders of AMCU then went around
the mine, saying to drillers that they could get
R12,500 a month (representing a pay hike of more
than 300%) - this was despite the fact that this
new union has no bargaining rights since it has
less than 30% membership at this particular mine.
According to NUM, the company then entertained
discussion with drillers despite the existence of
a two-year wage negotiation deal that was signed
last year. Lonmin then balked at the figure,
leading to the illegal strike and the violence
over the weekend, when the marchers apparently
attacked NUM representatives and were shot at by
mine security and police officers.
Zokwana
said that anyone who was even associated with a
NUM representative at the mine faced the threat of
violence. NUM claimed that a hit list was
circulating on the hill with the names of known
NUM shop stewards. He refused to accept blame for
the tensions, saying that it was now a confirmed
fact that it was AMCU who went around with the
R12,500 figure and who also organised the illegal
strike.
"AMCU is saying up on the
mountain, 'We will give you this money' but they
are not talking to management. What will they say
to those people when they can't get the money?"
Zokwana said.
Baleni and Zokwana have both
made appearances at Marikana, to no avail. They
said that they had handed over any pertinent
information to the police and called on security
to allow those who want to work to be given safe
passage to do so.
The union is blaming the
police for asking its leaders to do their job for
them. Baleni and Zokwana said that they had
reported the names of individuals perpetrating
violence, but by Wednesday there had been no
action taken by the police despite the weekend's
violence.
NUM deputy president Piet Matosa
said, "The people gathered on the mountain are
suspects, but they are not searched, arrested or
dispersed. What can a trade unionist do in such a
situation?"
Several hours before the
violent clash began, Zokwana said, "We are not
solving the problem if those people are allowed to
disperse without being searched. The way that the
men on the mountain are psyched, it is only the
police who will be able to deal with them."
The union has a point: despite 10 people
dying, the police seemed extremely reluctant to do
anything about it. No arrests were made, and
crucially, nobody was searched even though it was
known that the strikers were armed, at the very
least, with the weapons that they had taken off
the murdered security guards and police officers.
The miners were allowed to congregate in huge
numbers in an operational area and to arm
themselves with all manner of traditional weapons
and machetes. The men were clearly hostile to NUM
and, to make things worse, AMCU was clearly not in
any sort of control.
The reluctance of the
police could come from the fact that they did not
seem to have public backing from any political
figures. Aside from a cameo appearance by national
police commissioner Mangwashi Phiyega, no other
significant politician had anything to say. The
silence from North West premier Thandi Modise, the
local MECs and other political principals is
disconcerting under the circumstances.
Unfortunately, however, it appears that
the finger-pointing is only beginning. DM
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article is run courtesy of Daily Maverick. To
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