The formation of a workers' committee is an act of power by the working class. It has shaken capital by advancing far beyond trade union bureaucracy. The workers' committee in Lonmin had only been in existence for a week when the Marikana massacre took place on the 16...
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The strike committees: Organising against all odds | by Amandla! correspondants
Whether the aftermath of Marikana will spell the downright end of the National Union of Mineworkers, the resentment against the traditional structures of bargaining and the union leadership is palpable in the platinum belt, sometimes bordering on murderous anger. The...
It’s time for women to lead South Africa | by Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge
You who have no work, speak. You, who have no homes, speak. You, who have no schools, speak. You, who have to run like chickens from vultures, speak. We must share the problems so that we can solve them together. We must free ourselves. Dora Tamana Should we as women...
Can’t you hear the thunder? | by Jay Naidoo
The headlines scream 'Marikana Massacre'; 'Killing Fields of Rustenburg'. Radio and TV Talk shows and social media all display the anger and expose the psyche of a nation badly wounded. The bloodiest security operation since the end of apartheid has left us shocked...
South Africa’s dashed hopes of liberation | by Charlie Kimber
Charlie Kimber travelled to South Africa regularly to report on the fight against apartheid for Socialist Worker. He looks back at that struggle in the wake of the Marikana massacre—and how dreams have turned to disillusionment In the misty early morning of 27 April...
The Marikana Massacre reveals the depths of the fault lines in South Africa | by Sahra Ryklief
On Thursday 16th August, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead by police at LONMIN's platinum mine in Rustenberg. It is not yet clear why the police were using live ammunition, nor whether a warning was issued. Audio-visual depictions of the event demonstrate a...
Echoes of the Past:Marikana, Cheap Labour and the 1946 Miners Strike
Chris Webb On August 4, 1946 over one thousand miners assembled in Market Square in Johannesburg, South Africa. No hall in the town was big enough to hold them, and no one would have rented one to them anyway. The miners were members of the African Mine Worker's...
The Marikana action is a strike by the poor against the state and the haves | by Justice Malala
The shooting at Lonmin's Marikana mine exposes weaknesses at the heart of South African society The story of the London-listed Lonmin's Marikana mine shootings is that of a trade union that cosied up to big business; of an upstart and populist new union that exploited...





