No outrage at murders around SA mines
There is a crucial narrative that is being erased in the country’s reflection on violence in the mining belt since the focus moved to the Marikana massacre six years ago. That is the role played by trade unions and law enforcement agencies in the violence that has stalked the platinum belt before and after the tragedy that claimed the lives of 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers in the North West.
While the horror that accompanied that massacre was rooted in the murders by the police, there has not been equal outrage against other killings on the platinum belt near Rustenburg.
Before the police shot the Marikana mineworkers, dozens more had been shot or stabbed by “faceless men” who killed miners on their way to work, in their homes and at work. And there has been no urgency by either the unions or the police to get to the bottom of this.
As a result, the violence in the area has continued.
Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the splinter union that usurped it, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), have been at war since Amcu’s inception.
Both unions have been articulating their differences publicly for some time, with subtle admissions that the killings in the platinum belt are a result of inter- and intra-union conflicts, as well as historical issues such as tribalism.
Yet, as mineworkers continue to perish, there has been no clarion call by leaders of either union for some conversation to not only get to the root of the problem, but arrive at a truce of sorts. Leaders cannot be hesitant when dealing with life and death issues, and as in this case, place competition for popularity ahead of lives.
Amcu set up an investigation after several of its members, including Zingisa Mzendana and Mohahu Maseko, were killed in 2017. Although suspects believed to be former members of Amcu were arrested in February, many of the cases remain unsolved.
Former police minister Fikile Mbalula promised to ensure the cases were pursued vigorously, but the police’s enthusiasm seems to have waned. The extra security resources and intelligence service workers requested in the area have not been delivered either.
Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said in a recent interview with Business Day that he believed the number of mineworkers killed in the platinum belt in the wake of the 2012 strike surpassed the number killed by police.
“The mining sector is violent in itself in dealing with those particular [conflict] issues. It’s a serious issue,” he said.
Yet, even he could not suggest a way out for mineworkers who are trapped between making a living and surviving the violent environment they live in. Mineworkers now live in a permanent state of paranoia.
On a recent visit to Lonmin operations at Marikana and Implats near Rustenburg, rising tensions were palpable, with announcements of retrenchments by the mining houses adding more pressure to an already fraught situation. And as with Marikana, a workplace issue can easily be a cause of contention and division between workers struggling to come to terms with the bloodshed and employment insecurity. There are areas in the platinum belt where there can be no mention of NUM or Amcu; freedom of association has been jeopardised. Territories established during the interunion rivalry that started more than six years ago remain intact. The lack of serious intervention by the police when cases of violence or murder occur has entrenched these differences.
The cost of the failure to confront these issues is simply more deaths, with lessons from Marikana seemingly reserved for the government and mining houses, and not the other, equally powerful stakeholders in the industry. ● Mahlakoana is a political and labour writer.