Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Marikana Murders: What Will You Do, President Zuma?


"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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