OVER THE LAST couple of months, the news has been full of bloody stories from the mining communities of South Africa. We first of all heard of the tragic deaths of over 30 striking miners gunned down by cops, whose government bosses then tried to use Apartheid-era laws to place legal blame on the miners themselves. After that, the focus soon shifted to stories of ‘extremism’ from striking workers, threatening both bosses and scab workers (like they don’t deserve it) and holding the economy to ransom. Then the news went dead. What most people in this country will not know is that after all the suffering, the miners won a complete victory, securing the 22% pay increase they had been striking for.
In what seems to be corporate news policy, they are willing to show us stories of workers getting bravely beaten or being ‘unreasonable’ and violent themselves, but find it impossible to tell the public when ordinary working people organise themselves and win: it would set a bad example. But the good news does not stop at the miners’ victory. Following their example, protests and strikes have erupted across the country, with everyone from teachers to gold miners taking action to better their lives. Since Apartheid ended, wealth in South Africa has still been controlled by the same elite, now with a smattering of added colour, and the workers, overwhelmingly black, still find themselves in dire, increasing poverty. The victory of the miners, though won at a bloody cost, has sent shockwaves through the working class, which is now gearing up for a fight which could see some of the great wealth of their country ripped away from the rich few and taken back by those who work, sweat and die to create it. More to follow.
