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| The unexamined massacre of the Marikana miners | |
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| Fifty three years to the day of the Sharpeville massacre, when police gunned down 69 people outside a police station south of Johannesburg, it's a national holiday in South Africa. Like other countries, we have successfully confined the horrors of our past to museums and national holidays. Few complain about a day off. But the brutality, mindless violence, injustice and oppression that catalysed into the Sharpeville massacre is still echoed in the experience of South Africans to this day. | Fifty three years to the day of the Sharpeville massacre, when police gunned down 69 people outside a police station south of Johannesburg, it's a national holiday in South Africa. Like other countries, we have successfully confined the horrors of our past to museums and national holidays. Few complain about a day off. But the brutality, mindless violence, injustice and oppression that catalysed into the Sharpeville massacre is still echoed in the experience of South Africans to this day. |
| When the police gunned down 34 miners in Marikana last August, opposition politicians, analysts and commentators likened the shootings to the Sharpeville massacre. State officials however bristle at such a comparison. They argue it was not a massacre at all, that it was a tragedy pitting violent workers against the police, leaving the police with no other option but to shoot. Police commissioner Victoria Piyega is currently under cross-examination from the Farlam commission into the Marikana massacre. She argues police were acting in self-defence. She points out that two police officers were killed ahead of the police opening fire on workers. | When the police gunned down 34 miners in Marikana last August, opposition politicians, analysts and commentators likened the shootings to the Sharpeville massacre. State officials however bristle at such a comparison. They argue it was not a massacre at all, that it was a tragedy pitting violent workers against the police, leaving the police with no other option but to shoot. Police commissioner Victoria Piyega is currently under cross-examination from the Farlam commission into the Marikana massacre. She argues police were acting in self-defence. She points out that two police officers were killed ahead of the police opening fire on workers. |
| Piyega's testimony is important to understanding if indeed, the state colluded with Lonmin, the mining company, against its own citizens. There is however a more subliminal inquiry into the way Marikana has been delivered into our collective subconscious. What does Marikana actually say of the state of South Africa today? | Piyega's testimony is important to understanding if indeed, the state colluded with Lonmin, the mining company, against its own citizens. There is however a more subliminal inquiry into the way Marikana has been delivered into our collective subconscious. What does Marikana actually say of the state of South Africa today? |
| While the massacre in Marikana is certainly unprecedented in South Africa's recent history, the rebellion that drove the strike at the mine last year can be located within a greater culture of protest. "Service delivery protests" – demonstrations against local government for the failure of the delivery of services like housing, sanitation and electricity and water – have become a mainstay of South African life. Preliminary data suggests that South Africa experienced more protests last year than in any year since 1994. | While the massacre in Marikana is certainly unprecedented in South Africa's recent history, the rebellion that drove the strike at the mine last year can be located within a greater culture of protest. "Service delivery protests" – demonstrations against local government for the failure of the delivery of services like housing, sanitation and electricity and water – have become a mainstay of South African life. Preliminary data suggests that South Africa experienced more protests last year than in any year since 1994. |
| Morning news bulletins are peppered with reports of major roads being barricaded by burning tyres, buildings vandalised and local councillors fearing for their lives. The emphasis of media reports on service delivery protests has centred on the accompanying violence and subsequent police intervention. | Morning news bulletins are peppered with reports of major roads being barricaded by burning tyres, buildings vandalised and local councillors fearing for their lives. The emphasis of media reports on service delivery protests has centred on the accompanying violence and subsequent police intervention. |
| The focus is on the rubber bullets used to disperse protesters, the burning buildings and the blocked off streets. These protests have come to be characterised as a madness confined to the backwaters of the country. The emerging narrative in the media centred on quelling an apparent insanity, but there is scant coverage of what it is actually driving these protests. Yet, studies have shown that these violent protest point to a growing disenchantment with the new South Africa. | The focus is on the rubber bullets used to disperse protesters, the burning buildings and the blocked off streets. These protests have come to be characterised as a madness confined to the backwaters of the country. The emerging narrative in the media centred on quelling an apparent insanity, but there is scant coverage of what it is actually driving these protests. Yet, studies have shown that these violent protest point to a growing disenchantment with the new South Africa. |
| So too, in Marikana, the news media in South Africa failed to look beyond the violence of striking mineworkers to interrogate what exactly was driving the rebellion of the Marikana community. Jane Duncan, a professor of journalism at Rhodes University, recently presented a paper that lambasted South African publications for not actually speaking to mineworkers during the strike. Our understanding of what was happening in Marikana was forged through statements from Lonmin management, union officials and the police. | So too, in Marikana, the news media in South Africa failed to look beyond the violence of striking mineworkers to interrogate what exactly was driving the rebellion of the Marikana community. Jane Duncan, a professor of journalism at Rhodes University, recently presented a paper that lambasted South African publications for not actually speaking to mineworkers during the strike. Our understanding of what was happening in Marikana was forged through statements from Lonmin management, union officials and the police. |
| The scant coverage of what is driving these protests is not coincidental. It points to a shortcoming within South African media to adequately address concerns that are not held by. While there certainly are significant challenges dogging the rate of service delivery throughout the country, inherent in these protests is a sense of injustice, a sense of being hard done by, a sense of being cut off from the institutions that are meant to be securing the freedoms that were won through the struggle of those in Sharpeville in 1960. | The scant coverage of what is driving these protests is not coincidental. It points to a shortcoming within South African media to adequately address concerns that are not held by. While there certainly are significant challenges dogging the rate of service delivery throughout the country, inherent in these protests is a sense of injustice, a sense of being hard done by, a sense of being cut off from the institutions that are meant to be securing the freedoms that were won through the struggle of those in Sharpeville in 1960. |
| The South African constitution states that municipalities have the responsibility to ensure all citizens are provided with services to satisfy their basic needs. The reality however is that despite the success of the ANC government's service delivery to a record number of South Africans, many, many more continue to live without basic amenities. And Marikana showed us this failure of local government. | The South African constitution states that municipalities have the responsibility to ensure all citizens are provided with services to satisfy their basic needs. The reality however is that despite the success of the ANC government's service delivery to a record number of South Africans, many, many more continue to live without basic amenities. And Marikana showed us this failure of local government. |
| When journalists finally did speak to miners in Marikana, they were angry with their unions and furious at the police, and pointed out that many of them had been forced from their homes hundreds of miles away in the Eastern Cape to secure employment, only to live in tin shacks without electricity, water or refuse removal. They sought to stress that their lives have been shorn of dignity for a lot longer than the duration of the strike. | When journalists finally did speak to miners in Marikana, they were angry with their unions and furious at the police, and pointed out that many of them had been forced from their homes hundreds of miles away in the Eastern Cape to secure employment, only to live in tin shacks without electricity, water or refuse removal. They sought to stress that their lives have been shorn of dignity for a lot longer than the duration of the strike. |
| Marikana showed us that the South African media has failed to free itself to act as a platform of public opinion promoting democracy. While workers eventually achieved a historic wage increase through the strike, they know it does little to relieve the structural inequalities bristling beside the hustle and bustle of the mine. For them, that Sharpeville continues. | Marikana showed us that the South African media has failed to free itself to act as a platform of public opinion promoting democracy. While workers eventually achieved a historic wage increase through the strike, they know it does little to relieve the structural inequalities bristling beside the hustle and bustle of the mine. For them, that Sharpeville continues. |
| • The headline of this story was amended on 21 March 2013, correcting the spelling from Marikina to Marikana. |