The afternoon of August 16, 2012 was the ‘single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the Sharpeville massacre during the apartheid era’.1
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Occupy movements around the globe have been a hot topic for discussion lately, with protestors wishing for social and economic equality. This was the case for the recent strike at the Lonmin Platinum mines outside of Rustenburg, South Africa. Workers began striking on the 10th, asking for better wages from the R3,000 (about $360 USD) per month they were getting.
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Normally if a riot breaks out, crowd control measures are used such as tear gas, rubber bullets, or water cannons. In this circumstance these were ‘overlooked’ and police went straight for deadly force. After constructing a barricade with razor wire fencing, police opened fired with live ammunition against a mass armed with nothing more than spears, machetes, and sticks, injuring 78 and killing 34.
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This incident quickly gained international attention especially as now the 270 workers arrested, originally charged with ‘public violence’, are being tried for murder. A letter written to President Jacob Zuma from the miners’ lawyers Maluleke, Msimang and Associates states:
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“It is our instruction to inform you that it would be the understatement of the century to call this turn of events bizarre in the extreme.
“It is inconceivable the South African state, of which you are the head…can genuinely and honestly believe or even suspect that our clients murdered their own colleagues and in some cases, their own relatives.”2
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Overall the South African public is outraged by this atrocious incident. I cannot even express the sadness I feel at not only the inabilities of the riot control but also passing the blame and the lacking ability to see where the fault lies.
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1: Stated by http://digitaljournal.com/article/331359
2: Quote from Maluleke, Msimang, and Associates in a letter to President Zuma according to News24
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Update as of September 2nd: Murder charges on the 270 workers arrested have been provisionally dropped.
