South Africa

A "wildcat strike" in South Africa: the Marikana Massacre

The Marikana strike began on 10 August 2012, when around 3,000 miners from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) joined together in a wildcat strike, not approved by the trade unions. If anything, the trade unions advised against a strike. It was mostly the borhauers of the local mines who joined forces. This was triggered by the borhauer's demands for a pay rise. However, these demands were declared unlawful by the government, the companies and the NUM, as the Borhauer are in the lowest positions within the mines. It should also be noted that the NUM co-operates with the mines, as senior union leaders such as Cyril Ramaphosa and Nathi Mthethwa often own shares in the mines and companies and enrich themselves from them. As the workers did not feel properly represented by the NUM and the AMCU, they quickly formed their own committees to organise a strike.

The situation then escalated on 16 August. Why violence began and which party, the strikers or the police, attacked first remains unclear to this day, as both parties tampered with the evidence in order to blame the other. In addition, the investigations and enforcement of these at the special police meeting that was convened left much open , with many investigations not even launched.

The police opened fire on the strikers, which led to an escalation that resulted in a total of 44 deaths. Of these, 34 were miners. This massacre led to charges being brought against the remaining strikers, some of whom were convicted. This led to the police and the government being criticised. Many critics compared this massacre to conditions under the apartheid regime, to which the government reacted with indignation. Despite opposing the initial strike action, the NUM was outraged by the convictions and the attempted framing of its union supporters for murder and warned its members in a statement to be careful. The question of guilt and the role of those involved in the escalation of the strike remains unresolved to this day. The victims are still trying to fight for justice, which often proves difficult or even impossible.

Marikana is repeatedly used by political parties to push through their political agenda or to present themselves in a favourable light. One example of this is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The EFF, led by Julius Malema, has turned the Marikana massacre into a central symbol for the fight against inequality and capitalism. The party is using the event to denounce the link between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and large mining companies. Malema and the EFF accuse the ANC of siding with the corporations and betraying the interests of the workers. Corruption is rampant on both sides, i.e. on the side of the state and the police, as well as on the side of the trade unions and strikers. In order to deal with the massacre properly in the end, it is important that trade unions, strikers, politicians and companies all take responsibility for the victims and deal with the massacre objectively. As things stand, however, this is proving difficult as the fronts between the parties have hardened. The massacre should actually serve as a memorial and not be used to push through the political agenda. The Marikana massacre was one of the worst riots since the apartheid regime. The extreme actions of the police and the strikers, as well as the parties' recriminations, raise serious questions about the integrity of politics and the socio-economic position of the parties.

One way of remembering the Marikana massacre is the 40th anniversary of the NUM, which was celebrated on 4 December 2022. The massacre was commemorated primarily in the speech by Cyril Ramaphosa and put into historical context by a presentation by NUM employees. Above all, the victims are commemorated and memorialized. The NUM recalled its most important achievements. These include, on the one hand, the memory of its struggle for the voiceless "black" mineworkers, who were given a voice for the first time in South Africa's history through the NUM and were also able to express their interests to the companies and politicians and in some cases assert them. The celebrations also commemorate people from the union, such as Nelson Mandela or Cyril Ramaphosa. However, only the successes of these individuals are commemorated. Criticism, such as Ramaphosa's former extreme leadership style of the NUM, is not mentioned. The failures are not mentioned either. This shows that no self-criticism is made during the celebrations. Another example of the lack of self-criticism is the reminder of the Marikana massacre at the anniversary celebrations. The NUM only briefly recalls the sad event, which is also often criticised in public, as this event was a decisive event in the history of the NUM. There is also no mention of the frequent criticism levelled against the NUM for its aggressive approach to strikes or negotiations during the celebrations. There is also no mention of the criticism that the NUM no longer represents the interests of the workers, but instead represents political interests through its proximity to the ANC (African National Congress) and applies these to the workers.

It should be noted that senior members of the ANC and the NUM, such as Cyril Ramaphosa, own large shares in the mines and companies. In addition, workers are increasingly losing their trust in the union and also in politics. The NUM is also blamed for not honouring contractual agreements such as higher wages. This is mostly due to the fact that these rising costs mean that the sales margins are smaller and the shareholders' margins are also smaller, as the shareholders are mostly politicians and trade union leaders.

Contributed by Jannis Bonk (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)