{"id":346,"date":"2012-10-07T19:07:29","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T19:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2012\/10\/07\/the-underlying-causes-of-the-lonmin-massacre-terry-bell-2012\/"},"modified":"2012-10-07T19:07:29","modified_gmt":"2012-10-07T19:07:29","slug":"the-underlying-causes-of-the-lonmin-massacre-terry-bell-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2012\/10\/07\/the-underlying-causes-of-the-lonmin-massacre-terry-bell-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"The Underlying Causes of the Lonmin Massacre – Terry Bell (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThis item was commissioned but not published. It is, therefore, available for
\nimmediate free publication by anyone who wishes to use it.<\/em>
\nThe deaths at Lonmin amount to the bloodiest tragedy of the post-apartheid era. As a
\nresult, the blame game is in full swing and is likely to continue in the weeks ahead.
\nBut all the finger pointing, accusations and counter accusations only highlight the
\nplethora of questions that desperately need to be thoroughly interrogated. Any
\nresulting answers also need then to be acted upon in a comprehensive way. As
\nmatters now stand, there seems to be a dangerous tendency not to confront the issue
\nholistically.
\nThe possibly inappropriate over-reaction by a heavy armed police force that resulted
\nin so many deaths and injuries is an obvious focus for those demanding
\naccountability. Questions should certainly be asked as to why the two police
\nhelicopters did not drop teargas if there was a danger of armed conflict; why barbed
\nwire entanglements were not set up and why live ammunition was issued and who
\ngave the order to shoot.
\nBut the causes of this tragedy extend well beyond police training and who gave the
\norders and planned \u2014 or failed to plan \u2014 the police action. They also extend
\nbeyond the rivalry between, primarily, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
\nand the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and even the
\nattitude and approach of management.
\nAbove all the whole, horrific business should not be seen in isolation from the almost
\ndaily and often violent protests around the country. All appear to stem from the same
\nfundamental cause, the welling up of community and workplace anger.
\nThere are, of course, special circumstances related to mining. But, on a general level,
\nwhat lies at the root of all these upheavals is the so-called \u201cgatvol factor\u201d, the anger
\nof people whose lives remain mired in desperate poverty.
\nThat criminal elements and individuals with various political agendas should take
\nadvantage of such situations is scarcely surprising. But this in no way alters the fact
\nthat the underlying cause is the social and economic conditions in which so many
\npeople find themselves trapped.
\nThis has been illustrated in numerous studies, the most recent of which was the
\nBench Marks Foundation report released just two days before the massacre at the
\nLonmin Makana shaft. All the conditions were in place to indicate that what
\nhappened on Thursday last week was a bloodbath waiting to happen.
\nIn the absence of adequate communication and leadership from management, unions
\nand government, peppered by arrogance, ignorance and complacency, violence was
\nalways in prospect. That it escalated in the way that it did really provides only detail
\nto the circumstances that have ensured a new legacy of bitterness and hatred.
\nThe simple truth is that many mineworkers are now worse off than ever they were in
\nthe past. In the apartheid era, there was no legal requirement for the mining
\ncompanies to stack men, on concrete shelves three-deep around the walls of stark,
\nutilitarian hostels. This was done in the name of profit.
\nThis form of accommodation is no longer generally acceptable although it still exists.
\nFamilies may now join their male breadwinners. But rather than provide
\naccommodation suitable for families, the companies have turned increasingly to
\noutsourced labour.
\nWhat this has meant is that labour brokers compete, constantly cutting prices, to win
\ncontracts on the mines. In what the unions have dubbed a mad race to the bottom, it is
\nhungry workers and their families that pay the price.
\nSuch conditions, along with a perceived \u201ctoo cosy\u201d relationship between the longestablished
\nNUM leadership and mine managements, provided the opportunity for
\nthe emergence of newer unions. One such was Amcu, established more than a decade
\nago in the coalfields of Mpumalanga.
\nAmcu was founded by disgruntled members of the NUM and, once established,
\naffiliated to the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), that has its roots in the
\nBlack Consciousness Movement. In the 1994 transition period, Nactu flirted briefly
\nwith the idea of affiliation to the Pan Africanist Congress before deciding to remain
\npolitically independent.
\nAmcu has now emerged in the platinum sector posing as the defender of worker
\ninterests and promising to fight for a living wage, better pay and equal rights for all.
\nIt found a ready audience throughout the sector where there is growing anger at job
\nlosses and outsourced labour.
\nLonmin, for example, employs up to 27 000 workers, 10 000 of whom are
\n\u201coutsourced\u201d. These outsourced miners do the same work at often much less than the
\nminimum wage and without the benefits of housing, health care and rations.
\nThese are the men who, with their families, live in the sprawl of squatter camps that
\nnow surround the various mines. Here, amid squalor and hopelessness, anger and
\nresentment fester. This is the source and, unless it is addressed, more tragedy is
\nlikely to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}