Three months to probe miners' deaths

Deutsche Welle, 23 August 2012

With unusual speed, President Zuma has named a judicial commission to look into South Africa's deadliest spate of police violence since the end of apartheid. The same day ceremonies were held mourning the 34 victims.

The three-person commission will be headed by retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam and has been given a broad mandate to probe the police, mining giant Lonmim, rival unions, the government and any individuals involved in the violence.

The inquiry was announced by one day after the police crackdown on August 16 in which 34 workers were killed following inter-union clashes that had earlier killed 10 people at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.

The commission will have four months to complete their investigations and another month to submit their report. They will not only look at policing and security issues, but also at broader concerns about labour policies and working conditions. 

Mines closed

The judicial commission will look at
 labor policy and working conditions
as well as security

Key politicians mostly stayed away from Thursday's memorial services, leaving religious leaders to articulate the outrage over the killing of 34 miners by police seven days ago, with its unpleasant echoes of the not-too-distant past.

"We are shocked by what has happened. None of us ever thought this would happen again," said Anglican Bishop Johannes Seoka as he addressed thousands of people gathered near Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.

Police kept their distance as tensions still ran high among workers, with security noticeably lighter than earlier in the week.

Lonmin and the nearby Impala Platinum mine were closed to allow workers to attend the local memorial service, one of many ceremonies held across the country. Many of the 34 victims were migrant workers whose bodies have already been returned to their home villages.

Nontamazo Mthembu, a relative of one of the dead, told DW the affected families must get assistance from the mines. "It's sad when you look at these families," she said.

Zuma's handling of the crisis

Before naming the commission, Zuma had warned mining firms they could lose their licences if they failed to provide decent housing for their workers.

He also pointed out that the mining industry had assets valued at $2.5 trillion (1.99 trillion euros) excluding coal and uranium and should therefore be able to pay workers a better wage. 

Religious leaders attending a memorial
service for victims of a wildcat strike at
Marikana mine

Zuma has met strikers and is trying to address concerns that the government has ígnored their plight.

The South African president is trying to guide his country out of this crisis as he prepares to seek re-election as ANC leader in December.

Nic Dawes is editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg. He says that Zuma and the party he leads "have lost some credibility among South African workers and in poor and marginalized communities."

Firebrand politician Julius Malema, recently expelled by the ANC, warned that the country's mines should brace for a revolution, unless workers' conditions improved. Malema has pushed hard for the nationalization of the country's mines, a policy which the ANC has rejected.

DW's correspondent in South Africa, Subry Govender, says Lonmin workers have said they will return to work on Monday, August 27, if management agrees to their demands for higher wages, better working conditions and assistance with funeral arrangements.

Related Article:

South African police open fire on striking platinum miners