The real danger for South Africa after Lonmin mine shooting
Police shooting of 34 protesting mine workers has shocked South Africans, but the growing economic frustration that the miners’ strike underscores does not equal growing support for the ruling ANC’s rivals.
Scott Baldauf, Staff writer /
August 17, 2012
Policemen keep watch on the protesters outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg, Aug. 16. South African police opened fire on Thursday against thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin’s platinum mine.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
The shooting of 34 protesting mine workers by South African police has shocked a nation whose leadership sprung from the organized labor movement, and sees itself as the ultimate protector of workers’ rights.
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Video images of South African police firing straight into crowds of stick- and machete-wielding protesters spread like wildfire over social media and South African news channels, and brought painful comparisons with the previous apartheid government’s common use of extreme force with demonstrators. The difference here, of course, is that the apartheid government had represented the interests of a white minority, while the current African National Congress government
Category: Africa News
