Perspective: Africa - March 2016 This Has to be Remembered

by Leigh Barrett

MARIKANA: the word is now part of the countries, regarding workers’ rights and lexicon of history: the remote area that trade unions. saw the bloodiest use of force by the South During , the organization most African Police against the people since the involved with fighting the system was the Soweto uprisings in 1976. African National Congress. Formed in Marikana, also known as “Rooikoppies” 1912, and banned from 1960, days af- (Red hills), is a town between Rustenberg ter the , until 1990 and Johannesburg, and forms part of the (although it and its members, including Bushveld Igneous Complex, colloquially Nelson Mandela, remained on the US known as the “Platinum Belt”, of South Terrorist Watch List until 2008), the ANC Africa. Through 2 billion years of molten found itself needing a legal partner inside rock being forced to the surface through the country. COSATU – the Congress long vertical cracks in the earth, the area of South African Trade Unions – was an has some of the richest ore deposits in the affiliation of 21 trade unions, with 1,8 world – platinum, palladium, iron, titani- million workers, and formed part of a stra- um, tin, are just some of the metals that tegic alliance with the ANC and the South are produced here. African Communist Party to work towards accounts for 80% of the political transformation. world’s platinum deposits, and because Born in 1952, Ramaphosa had graduated of its scarcity, only a few hundred tonnes with a law degree, and started work rep- are produced annually for commodities as resenting the National Council of Trade diverse as silicone rubber and gel compo- Unions, and a year after that, in 1982, nents, medical prosthetics, and jewelry. was asked to form the National Union of One of the largest mining corporations in Mineworkers. The NUM won a major the area is Lonmin. Originally formed in victory in 1983 by ending job reservation, 1909 as “Lonrho” – London and Rhode- which guaranteed the higher paying jobs sian Mining and Land Company Limited went to whites in the era of apartheid. – they split into two companies in 1998 As COSATU’s first General-Secretary, his with Lonmin focusing its attention on profound skills as a negotiator, strategist, mining the riches of South Africa, with and leader built membership from 6,000 Marikana their flagship operation. Claim- to 300,000 in ten years. His role in nego- ing a commitment to “zero harm and the tiations to end apartheid and bring about environment” on their website, that rang the first democratic elections in 1994 false in August 2012. went a long way towards being considered What began as a wildcat strike became a a possible successor to President Nelson complicated and violent confrontation Mandela. Despite being passed over in – and speaks to a deeper issue that has favor of Thabo Mbeki, his ambitions have plagued South Africa, and many other never wavered. 49 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 As a businessman his interests are wide the establishment” too long, and perhaps and global, and he is one of the country’s forgetting his roots as a representative of richest men with a wealth purported to be the people. around $675 million. “I think the issue of Cyril Ramaphosa is He is also on the Lonmin board. And that a complex one – certainly he’s had huge is important to remember as the events of investments in Lonmin, hundreds of Marikana unfolded. millions of Rands – and he was seeking to I spoke to Rehad Desai, director of the protect them, and I think this typifies the exceptional documentary, “Miners Shot arrangements of politically connected indi- Down”, who told me, “The Trade Unions viduals and businessmen with these corpo- were indeed a powerful force for motivat- rations: where they seek out such people ing change in the move towards democra- in order to provide a level of protection to cy, but what we saw is what people have attempt to guarantee their economic and called the “triangle of torment”: commu- political interests, and they saw it fit to nications between union and manage- turn their backs on their workers, to stop ment are bureaucratized so leaders of the negotiating, even though that’s against trade unions are forced to discipline their their own stated policy, and criminalise membership to keep them in line with this strike. their agreement, in return for the employ- “But there are also political considerations ers holding their line – and in return the that I think stood at the forefront of Cyril employers ensuring that all their side meet Ramaphosa’s mind and that is the fact the agreement. that his baby, the NUM, certainly then “Now, the deeper thing was the – in the most powerful union in COSATU, (South Africa’s period of) transition – the is an important ally in the alliance – the alliance with the trade unions as far as the contrived alliance – with the ANC, and ANC goes was really premised on the abil- that was being increasingly questioned in ity for them to tamper wage demands- to the run-up to Marikana. Certainly we’ve ensure that wage demands that were over seen what’s happened post-Marikana. But and above the inflation rates or productiv- the fact that 21 000 workers 6 months ity were not demanded; that trade unions prior had signaled their decision to leave start taking responsibility for an economy the NUM following the strike which which they had no control over. This was happened at the second biggest platinum the beginning of the problems and so producer in the world and in South Africa, you saw the unions getting very close to Implats (Impala Platinum), they were management – far too close, particularly in worried that this would happen at Lonmin the case of the NUM where they’re labelled and spread further on to Anglo American by mineworkers as the National Union of – the largest platinum producer. Management. They’ve really become an “Now in total, this is the Crown Prince of extension of management and not much the mining sector and they represent 100 more.” 000 workers – that would have seen the I asked Rehad if the changes we saw in loss of 100 000 members from the NUM Ramaphosa were a result of his being “in to the other union on the block – the new 50 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 kid on the block, so to speak. That’s a mining” and warning about the potentially third of their membership and represents a dire consequences of an unequal distribu- severe weakening of their membership and tion of wealth. the ANC’s presence inside the trade union Certainly, South Africa’s memory doesn’t movement and I think in hindsight, maybe need to be long to remember what up- this was the consideration that was push- heavals that can wring from society. ing Ramaphosa, rather than simply his Apartheid was a system of inequality and money. This is the consideration which al- founded originally on economic distribu- lowed him to justify his intervention with tion towards the white Afrikaner, before it the Minister of Police and the Minister of extended to whites generally. Water Resources – both of them who, in political terms inside the African National Miner and strike leader, Tholakele Dlunga Congress, were his juniors.” says in the film, “We were complaining that rock drill operators only earn R4 000 a month. We should at least get an increase AUGUST 2012 looking at the work we do. But we know On August 10, 2012, rock drillers – the our employer. He won’t have the exact job usually reserved for the unskilled, amount we’re demanding. Whatever he illiterate, and under-educated – initiated a offers, we’ll negotiate on that, because we strike in protest of low wages. Rock drillers have very little money.” were paid an average of around ZAR12 After being turned away by the company’s 500 a month, at the time worth roughly security when attempting to approach $500, and they demanded to meet with another mine to encourage workers who mine management to discuss an increase. belonged to a competitor union, AMCU Poverty breeds anger and resentment. The (Association of Mineworkers and Con- Bench Marks Foundation, a non-profit, struction Union) to join the strike, around faith-based organization owned by South 3,000 workers headed to the local offices African churches, lobbies and monitors of the NUM, staffed by around 30 union social responsibility in the corporate sector, workers, shop stewards, and officials. basing their standards on the international, A survivor of the massacre, Mzoxolo Ma- “Principles for Global Corporate Respon- gidiwana, explains, “What made us angry sibility”, commented after the events at as Lonmin workers was the hypocrisy of Marikana: “The benefits of mining are not the union we elected. We were fed up be- reaching the workers or the surrounding cause they were not pushing our demands, communities. Lack of employment op- especially for wages, and we decided to go portunities for local youth, squalid living sort it out ourselves, as Lonmin workers.” conditions, unemployment and growing As the strikers approached the NUM inequalities contribute to this mess.” offices, the union staff started shooting at Critical of the ongoing exploitation and them, without warning, from inside the low wages of the miners, they warned building. The men dispersed, with one about the dangers the workers faced, driller testifying to the Commission of En- including significant health hazards, pro- quiry, “As I was walking through passages claiming “something is very wrong with of the hostel, I felt my back turn cold. I 51 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 tried to run and told the guys I was with genuine police. We are from Lonmin, we that I had been shot.” NUM has insisted it are trying to fix our financial problems. We was acting in self-defense. work underground. We are not fighting The NUM shooting at its members was with anyone. We are just trying to solve shocking enough, but then the politicians something.” stepped in, including Cyril Ramaphosa. I asked Desai about the inherent, fun- For a person with his background, hav- damental certainty of the workers at this ing spent much of his life fighting for point. workers’ rights, it came as a surprise that “It’s clear that the miners were ready to when called on to get involved, he instead hand over their weapons and cooperate distanced himself from the workers, calling with the police but they wanted to do that the strike, “dastardly criminal.” at the koppie. Someone says - I think it’s Between the 12th and 13th of August, Antonio Gramsci - that everyone is a phi- 8 mine workers were injured; two mine losopher whether you’re educated or not. security officers killed by the protesters; These worker leaders were chosen because 3 mineworkers killed in a skirmish with they have intuition – they’re naturally in- police that also leaves 2 policemen killed telligent. Education and intelligence don’t and 1 injured. necessarily go hand in hand, and yes, they In Desai’s documentary, containing ex- know their rights when it comes to strikes. traordinary footage of the events that un- They knew that they were embarking on folded that week, one of the moments that a strike – an unprotected strike – which stays with the audience is of the miners could have seen them dismissed. returning to the koppie – a small rocky hill “They believed that they could inde- they had deemed their sanctuary –armed pendently achieve more – which they had with their traditional weapons of pangas been doing for over the course of the last and sticks. They are stopped by police, led years prior to the massacre. Their defiance, by General Mpembe, the Deputy Com- their willingness, the bravery that it took missioner of the North West Province, to continue that strike, despite the huge who pleads with the miners to put down numbers of arrests and killings that took their weapons – never a match for sophis- place on the 16th, I think, is a standout ticated arms or bullets, but rather a badge characteristic of the determination and the of traditional courage – in order to return courage and human tenacity in the face of to the koppie. The miners are adamant: a giant corporation, in the face of a hostile “We’re not fighting with anyone. We just government, and hostile majority trade want to get to the mountain.” One worker union.” points out that when they went to their Magidiwana tells Desai in the film, “Black union representatives, they were shot at. workers are exploited. We work like slaves, In a quite remarkable show of submission even our fathers were rockdrillers. Either and respect, the workers, all kneeling or they die or go back home still as rock- sitting on the ground, their weapons down drillers. Poverty forces you to forget your as the police surround them, a strike leader ambition, leave school and work as a rock- addresses the General, “My elder, you are driller at the same mine, where your boss 52 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 will be the son of your father’s boss.” zor-wired temporary corral. And at that At this point, Lonmim has spent massive point, things went horrible wrong. amounts of money on expanding their One eyewitness says some strikers were operations, and is financially vulnerable, crushed by the vehicles, and chaos ensued so talk of higher wages is seen as a threat as the shooting began. Police reports say to their very existence, and they resist the someone, a worker, fired a gun at them, workers requests to talk. They also could although it’s impossible to say whether not afford a massive, extended strike, and that was proven, or whether such gun was with no rock drillers, there will be no ever found. What is known, and the video platinum. On the day of the massacre, evidence is clear, is that the police fired Lonmin, in a somewhat tone-deaf state- on workers running from charging vehi- ment, complains that it has lost six days of cles, teargas, and confusion, into a hail of production, or 15 000 ounces of platinum, bullets. and will be unable to meet target of 750 17 men were killed at the scene, pushed by 000 ounces by year end. the vehicles towards the armed police, and It remains somewhat unclear as to the level into a situation which if managed differ- of collusion between police, political and ently, could perhaps easily have resulted in union leaders, and Lonmin, with all claim- arrests being made with no loss of life. But ing no responsibility to what happened the chaos continued, and 17 more miners next. who had already found their way to the By August 14, ten people had died, with koppie, were later found dead from bul- no clear idea who had the guns, apart from lets fired at close range. The relatively few the police. shells found after the dust had settled indi- cated that this was not a scene of extended NUM’s competitor, AMCU, led by Jeffrey fire, but looked more like the miners had Matunjwa, whose members had joined been assassinated, one a time. the strike days earlier, stepped in to play a pivotal role in trying to ease the tensions The documentary includes almost every- and end the strike, but on 16 August, it all thing that happened during that week. came to a head. I asked Desai about the extraordinary amount of footage available. It remains unclear who gave the order to send in 4,000 rounds of live ammunition “Well, we got footage from wherever we to the police stationed at the site. Nor was could. The police had to, by regulation, there a clear answer when reporters asked film everything. They didn’t or much of why coroners vans had arrived, but no am- the stuff that they did was certainly dis- bulances were there. To this day, nobody posed of – it was not handed over to the has admitted to giving the order to fire on Commission of Inquiry, but they had to the workers, but what does seem clear is hand over something, they had to. So, a that the mine, and the police, were deter- lot of footage was police footage. Lonmin mined to bring things to an end. wanting to distance themselves from this police operation, which in many ways Police vehicles started to herd the miners they led, also handed over footage to show marching back to the koppie into a ra- policemen out of control – and particular- 53 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 ly in the instance of the railway line on the in the was Mangwashi 13th. Victoria Phiyega, aka Riah Phiyega, the “The key footage that shows the mine Police Commissioner of the South African workers leaving peacefully from the Police Service. Appointed to the position koppie – contrary to the police’s narrative in June 2012, Phiyega is but one example which claimed they were attacked twice - I – but an important one – of the cronyism managed to argue quite vociferously with run rampant in the current government. Al Jazeera to release that to me, which Placing unqualified, or at best under-qual- they did and which I then handed over to ified, people in positions of power played the Commission of Inquiry and the local its own role in the catastrophe that was and international press. That helped shift Marikana. With degrees in social sciences the narrative from one of police acting in and business administration, and a career self-defense to one of a police ambush and in the corporate sector, including large plan to violently break the strike. There banks and transportation, including a stint were other sources of footage from Reuters as “well-being consultant” at the Chamber and SABC – it took some time to get into of Mines, Phiyega had no experience as a SABC to get everything I needed.” police officer. She claimed her background as a manager would serve her well. Despite The shockwaves that rippled through the coming under some scrutiny when she country put pressure on President Zuma to would appear in public wearing full police appoint a Commission of Inquiry. Retired uniform, decked with an array of medals judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and honors – many of which were not Honourable Judge Ian Gordon Farlam awarded to police officers who were actual- took his seat on August 23, 2012, and for ly qualified to wear them - her Amin-esque more than 2 years would hear the testimo- appearance was generally overlooked. ny of all the parties involved, including that of Cyril Ramaphosa, who entered the Her testimony to the Farlam Commission, hall to the cries of “blood on his hands” which advised on an investigation into her from the audience. While the Commission fitness to hold office, claimed the police cleared him of wrongdoing, easing the had been attacked by the workers, saying, now-Deputy President’s way to a possible “The militant group stormed toward the promotion, the lawyers representing the police firing shots and wielding dangerous miners continue to demand he be held re- weapons.” It is still unclear where that sponsible, most recently with the attorney version originated, since the video evi- representing the miners serving him with dence show a very different picture. She a summons, demanding he apologise for has also claimed that, as she was only in the massacre and to compensate those who that position for 2 months at the time of were affected. the massacre, it was really her predeces- sor’s fault for militarising the police, and One of the legacies of this event was a she had trusted her senior management to closer examination of the decision-making handle the crisis. level of the SA government – something Mandy Tomson delves into elsewhere in Phyega was suspended from her position this publication. One of the major players in 2015, following an investigation into her practices as Commissioner by the 54 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 country’s Directorate for Priority Crime representatives of the injured and arrested Investigation, aka “Scorpions”, whose job have served papers for private criminal it is to investigate organised crime, eco- prosecution against Cyril Ramaphosa nomic crime, and corruption cases referred and it’s also recommended with the Far- to it by SAPS. lam Commission that the NUM – those As of publication date, there is a dust-up people who fired at the mine workers - be between Phiyega and Police Minister Nko- investigated. Again, whether that happens sinathi Nhleko and we will be keeping an is a case to be seen. eye on how that plays out going forward. “The government has asked the legal representatives of the families of the slain miners and the injured and arrested to THE MINERS enter discussions which will be happening Shortly after the massacre, 17 miners were at the end of this month. charged with the killing of the 10 who lost “I think the willingness of workers to step their lives prior to the day of the massacre outside their trade unions; the framework - charges that were withdrawn pending they’ve set up to deal in so-called legiti- the findings of the Commission, but in mate manner with workers, was certainly October 2015 were reinstated. The pretri- not working for them. The workers went al is scheduled to come before the courts on to win significant increases.” around time of publishing. Lonmin agreed to increase salaries by 22%, The 270 workers directly involved in the with a one-off payment of R2 000 to help massacre were originally charged under cover the weeks they were on strike. The the “common purpose doctrine”, but miners got less of an increase they wanted, those charges were dropped. Common but as for their actions, and the conse- purpose is a legal doctrine that states all quences, as Desai says, “This has to be participants in a crime are responsible for remembered.” the consequences, even if it is not their intention. In a previous high profile case in South Africa – the Sharpeville Six- MINING FOR CHANGE common doctrine came under fire by the The extraordinary system changes South international community as unlawful and Africa experienced through the decades racist, with two jurists calling it a “crime leading up to full democracy in 1994, were against humanity”. as a direct result of grassroots democracy, I asked Rehad Desai about the situation and the events at Marikana were emblem- for the miners following the Commission: atic of this. The people, in this case poor, “Lonmin did go before the Commission, uneducated, and largely illiterate rock as did the unions. The final report states drillers, stood up and demanded their that there is a case for criminal negligence rights in a show of strength and certainty on behalf of the directors of Lonmin. one doesn’t often see. How the govern- The parties, whether the state or the NPA ment chooses to deal with this will reflect (National Prosecuting Authority), will whether the establishment is so because it follow up in another question but the legal has inherited the systems created by the 55 Perspective: Africa - March 2016 colonial powers, followed by the apartheid forming a new trade union federation. We governments… or whether they remind also have the United Front, which is com- themselves how they got into that posi- posed of 240 civic-based organizations and tion – and whether the people they used to a few NGO’s, working together with the represent will allow them to stay there. likes of Section 27 (a public interest law Rehad Desai: “I think what’s happened to center) and Equal Education (a movement the African National Congress stewarding of educators, parents, and community party is essentially being captured by black members), as well as other mass organiza- tycoons – created through BEE (the “Black tions, around corruption. These are im- Economic Empowerment” programme portant developments and they need to be created by the government to redress racial noted.” inequalities) and therefore they will not Noted. act counter to those interests which have become dominant around the sitting Pres- ident, Jacob Zuma, who is surrounded by Rehad Desai’s film, “Miners Shot Down” a number of securocrats, as they’re labeled, has won 21 awards, including an Inter- and these tycoons who are now the dom- national Emmy. It has featured, and won inant faction in the ANC. The grassroots awards at, nearly 100 film festivals around activism will now have to come from the world. International screenings num- those outside of the ANC – we can see ber into the hundreds and attention to this that happening with the students, in the issue continues to grow. townships, and it’s often led by the good To hear the interview with Rehad Desai, old freedom fighters. The National Union please visit our website at www.perspec- of Metalworkers of SA (“NUMSA”), the tive-publications.org biggest trade union in the country, is now

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