Another Sharpeville?

What are we to make of the shootings at the Lonmin mine? And what does it tell us about South Africa in these times? As far as I can recall, it is the worst single incident of this kind since Sharpeville 52 years ago.

But what sparked the shooting seems not to have been so much of an industrial dispute as inter-union rivalry. Violence and killing had been going on for some time.

The main difference was that the Sharpeville protesters were unarmed. The miners were armed to the teeth with guns, spears and pangas. They also used muti – a spell that would make them immune to bullets, or so they believed. The police fired 300 rounds in a minute. The result was 44 dead and 120 wounded.

In the 1960’s African mineworkers were the aristocrats of labour. They were well-paid in comparative terms. Johannesburg was Egoli – the city of gold. Immigrants flocked there from all over the region. The mining industry even had its own air-service, Wenela,  to take workers home at the end of their contracts and pick up the new recruits. I used to watch the passengers coming off the plane in Malawi, dressed to the nines, all carrying huge suitcases full of the luxury goods unaffordable or unobtainable at home. Many started their own businesses on the proceeds of half-a dozen contracts.

The new batch had what they stood up in and little more.

They were housed in dormitories at the mine, with good nourishment and medical facilities. .

In Zambia rising copper prices meant high pay especially when the annual copper bonus was paid out. That was a good time for car dealers but not quite so good for we road users. Housing was provided, along with medical and social facilities.

So I was taken aback to see that no such facilities appeared to be provided at Lonmin. The workers live in insanitary hovels. There did not appear to be either drainage or piped water supplies. Conditions came across as appalling.

In Zambia the Chinese-owned mines are notorious for their flouting of the most basic safety requirements, even the provision of hard hats. Miners are sent back to work immediately after blasting before the fumes and dust have cleared. There have been reports of miners being forced to work 365 days with no time off. Unions are not recognised. There are constant strikes and violence.

Wages are the lowest in the country and certainly far lower, inflation-adjusted, than they were 50 years ago.

Perhaps we old colonials weren’t so wicked after all.