"The Reaper" Takes a Stand for South Africa's Poverty-Stricken and Condemns Excessive Force Policy
‘Traditional weapons’ are practically the
hallmark of resistance politics in South Africa. You only have to step onto any
rail carriage in the country today to be faced with signs discouraging the
carrying of the panga and knobkerrie
– weapons associated with our culture – as well as the ubiquitous AK47 and
other weapons. As tensions escalated in the years leading up to 1994, more and
more people openly carried weapons. This was a rather powerful symbol of
defiance that had an amazing effect on the general public. One has to only
conjure an image of a group of men dancing through a town or city chanting war
songs and brandishing what are essentially a garden tool (machete) and a shillelagh (as
well as shields, dustbin lids or whatever else came to hand) to imagine the
fear it struck into the heart of what was by then a very frightened public.
The blatant defiance gave the police a free
ticket to use ‘any and all means possible’ to quell such displays of power. But
as things wore on and observers noted that most carriers of these weapons used
them purely for effect, and not for mass murder as most suspected, they
gradually became part of the cultural landscape. No political rally or strike
action these days goes by without similar displays. In fact, people would find
it strange if they didn’t. Moreover, First World cultures even have a word for
it; it’s called saber-rattling.
Is there a similarity with the Marikana incident
to the ongoing service delivery protests that have resulted in heavy-handed
police action around the country? Should there be? Why were police summoned in
such numbers and armed with live ammunition in what was essentially a pay
dispute? The police track record of handling situations such as this suggests
that maybe the situation would have been better off had they not shown up at
all.
One is put in mind of the Pondo revolt of the
early 1960’s, where a similar tragedy could have been avoided had the police
just left well enough alone. The protesters would have got bored and gone away
eventually, but as a direct result of police action, the incident is now a
celebrated part of the African National Congress’ (ANC) struggle for human
rights.
Or is it simply a case, as the suggestion goes,
that the Marikana ‘informal settlement’ -- a euphemism at best for what is described
as an inhuman cesspit -- is a place where even the police fear to tread, and
that ‘getting them’ at Wonderkop was their best hope of making an example to
the rest? Either way, it appears that government is so busy filling its pockets
that it is outright failing the people at the most basic level of
service.
Has anyone revoked Beki Cele’s mad-dog ‘shoot to
kill’ policy yet? Apparently not, judging by the 300 or so bullets that were
poured into the crowd of advancing men. Were the cops afraid for their lives?
Hell yes! Were they acting out of that fear? To a point, but more importantly,
they were acting on orders from higher office. “This is not a time for
finger-pointing,” Jacob Zuma said. Why not? Are you concerned the finger will
end up being pointed at you, Mr. President?
Let us not forget that police action has been
increasing in violence, not decreasing as one would have hoped in a country
that is still reeling from the atrocities of the apartheid era. The murder of
schoolteacher Andries
Tatane in April 2011 was just one of 1,769 deaths at the hands of police
that year, with 5000 cases of police brutality brought in that same year. With
headlines such as “Cops Shouldn’t be Sorry
about Marikana Shooting” ringing in our ears, isn’t it time to stop and
take a look at what’s going on around us?
The following article provides more insight on situation: Marikana Miners
Assaulted in Custody
With government interests in mining being delved
into and uncovered all the time, should we not draw some kind of connection
between the ANC’s links with NUM (the National Union of Mineworkers) and the
power struggle between NUM and AMCU (Association of Mineworkers and
Construction Union), with AMCU supporting the rock drillers demands while NUM
does not? The story behind the story is far more complicated than many would
admit.
No-one is denying that the strikers were acting
in a very provocative manner. They are certainly not without blame in this
situation, having done a bit of murder themselves while atop Wonderkop, and
intimidating non-striking workers into joining them, and using sangomas
to bewitch them into thinking that they were invincible against the guns of
their foe.
And yet, the feeling remains that this was an
act of desperation. The Marikana rebellion is not merely a struggle for more
pay. It is, in fact, yet another microcosm of the struggle for survival of a
nation of uprooted, dispossessed people desperately trying to survive in a
world not of their making. It’s a microcosm of a people rudely awakened by cold
Calvinism and dragged kicking and screaming directly out of the Iron Age and
into the Consumer Age without the comfort of having their senses dulled by
three hundred years of slavery to the industrial machinations that brought
about the modern era.
As of today, nearly two weeks later, two of the
miners wounded by the police gunfire and being held in custody have as yet not
received any medical treatment whatsoever for their injuries. Others who are in
urgent need of tuberculosis medication and antiretroviral drugs (ARV's) for the
treatment of HIV are being denied access to treatment. What are you going to do,
President Zuma? What are you going to do?!
“The
Reaper” is a citizen-journalist, political activist, and writer based in South Africa.
Image courtesy of http://www.butterfunk.com.
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