The proceedings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the killings at Marikana have been widely criticised for their many shortcomings, but a number of important points of evidence have emerged in key thematic areas. What follows is a brief overview of the most...
mineworkers
Till death do us part? The future of COSATU
For the leadership of the ANC and SACP an independent and militant worker controlled and independent trade union federation is too dreadful to contemplate– especially as we approach the 2014 national and provincial elections. What if COSATU refused to campaign for or...
‘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...
Embryos of working-class power and grassroots democracy in Marikana
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...
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...
“The women of Marikana are marching because they want to see justice…” | by Lauren Paremoer
The vivid images of the Marikana Massacre and its aftermath are strikingly different from those capturing previous strikes by South African mineworkers. What is noticeable is the presence of large numbers of women – not all of them mineworkers – acting in support of...
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...
What the Fuck?
It is not usual to use an expletive in a publication like this, especially one as outrageous as the f word ... but WTF is going on with the post-apartheid state? First 34 mineworkers are killed, many, it would seem from new investigations, murdered in cold blood. And...






