On 27 April 2013 Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), the largest organisation of the militant poor in post-apartheid South Africa, established in Durban in 2005. Released a press statement entitled "Marikana: A New Land Occupation Founded on UnFreedom Day 2013." The...
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Centenary of the 1913 Land Act | By Colin Bundy
Why consider the history of a hundred-year old law? Surely the Marikana massacre and farm-workers' strikes are more urgent? In fact, there are direct links between the Natives' Land Act of 1913 and current struggles. The Land Act and its consequences still shape rural...
Marikana mine massacre: why British lawyer has joined fight for justice
James Nichol explains his decision to volunteer to represent forgotten families of dead strikers When South Africa's apartheid police massacred 69 people in Sharpeville in 1960, the revulsion spread as far as northern England. James Nichol, then 15, took part in his...
‘We cannot walk freely’| by Jeanne Hefez
Voices from Marikana: Lonmin workers speak It's nearly four months after the Marikana massacre, and the atmosphere in and around Lonmin is still one of fear in the face of a de facto state of emergency. As Amandla! goes to press, police continue to use excessive force...
AMCU at the Commission: “It was one big crime’ | by Jeanne Hefez
In its first months of hearings, the Farlam Commission has shown us clear evidence of a bungled police cover up of a massacre, the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) own attempt to hide its role, and an alarming level of complicity between state and capital. The...
Tribal courts: land, power and custom | by Mazibuko K. Jara
Throughout the controversial four-year life of the Traditional Courts Bill (TCB), the African National Congress government has firmly allied itself with tribal chiefs (with their new polished image and title of "traditional leaders"), even allowing them a strong hand...
The slayings grow more sinister | by Ronnie Kasrils
Our initial horror and outrage does not subside but deepens. Evidence is emerging of a web of possible vengeance and extra-judicial executions. These point to a scenario as sinister and chilling as anything from our horrific colonial-apartheid history. Our gut...
And what of the women of Marikana? | by Samantha Hargreaves
More than two weeks have passed since the savage 16 August massacre at Marikana massacre and much has been said by government, the mine, the unions, and some civil society organisations. But we have heard little directly from the Marikana strikers, and almost nothing...
South Africa does not support the death penalty, or does it?
The groundWork team Almost a week after the Marikana Massacre and in the midst of a week of mourning for those who were tragically killed at the Lonmin mine, the groundWork team sends their condolences to the families of the deceased and reflects on what this series...








