SA Police Kill Striking Miners

It seems silly to do a blog about Africa and not at least touch on the story that has been all over the South African papers for over two weeks now.

On August 16th, armed strikers at the Marikana mine in the North-West Province of South Africa were shot at by police, after tear gas and rubber bullets were unsuccessful in dispersing them. Why the anger? Marikana mines platinum, which has increased in value in the last few years, but wages have not.  The miners were demanding to be paid R12,500 a month in wages, which is about $1485 (USD) per month, more than double what they had been earning. 34 miners were shot dead by police and over 70 injured. It also looks like the first 14 were shot in the initial confrontation (see picture below), but police then pursued the fleeing miners and killed another 20 in an enclave of boulders, not shown in the videos or pictures.

dispatch.co.za

The deaths were called the "worst security incident" since the end of white rule in South Africa in 1994. One police officer was killed.

To add crazy to the crazy pie, an apartheid (pronounced "apar-tate," rhyming with "hate") law holdover then allowed the prosecutors to hold the other miners (~270 of them) responsible for the murder of their colleagues. Yes, the apartheid law said if you attack armed police you are responsible for the consequences. Crazy, right?

Fortunately, after lots of outcry, the murder charges have been dropped. Thank goodness.

Miners released: Reuters

Kate Thoughts: South Africa is the continent's largest economy. Johannesburg's province, Gauteng, is responsible for 9% of the GDP of the entire African continent. I could wax all day about the disparities and class differences in South Africa. The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has been in power for 18 years now, and while many blacks have risen up into the middle and upper classes, the huge disparity in wealth between races is still there. White South Africans make on average eight times as much as blacks, and whites are only 9% of the population (blacks are 80%). I honestly do not know what the right thing to do is, other than to create better educational and vocational opportunities for black people. Doing what Zimbabwe did (land redistribution) and causing whites to flee would certainly hurt South Africa's economy terribly, so it is good that the ANC hasn't gone that far yet. My ideal South Africa? A change of power. Allow the ANC to give up power to another party for a while and then it can come back with fresh policies and minds. We forget how lucky we are in the US that Democrats and Republicans switch office so often. That, in my mind, is true democracy.