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Did the SA government and police murder a hundred plus miners?

The answer seems to be…yes.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
" The use of the emotive word has drawn comparisons with the shooting dead by police of 34 striking miners in Marikana, some 150km (93 miles) away from Stilfontein, in 2012"

This time the weapon was starvation.

The BBC version is horrific enough.

Trapped underground with decaying bodies, miners faced a dark reality

This report by an international group is much more damning.

78 miners found starved and dehydrated to death in South African police operation against unlicensed mining

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/01/22/78-miners-found-starved-and-dehydrated-to-death-in-south-african-police-operation-against-unlicensed-mining/

They were illegal miners, you see. Kind of suggests illegal mining makes you an illegal person.
The BBC (who used a couple of M-words in the 2012 story) uses the term illegal miners four times, as well as “illegal mining” twice; the other report which is longer, only refers to “illegal mining”, and only twice at that.

I say a hundred plus as opposed to the 78 and 87, because the People’s Dispatch relates that with the emaciated state they are in, and the small number of hospitalised people (who are shackled to their beds despite being unable to walk) and with many more emaciated people detained by police, who doctors say they can’t treat them properly. There are 250 survivors who are all in very poor condition .

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Well, sadly for South Africans, this is just business as usual. The minister responsible for the Marikana massacre was Cyril Ramaphosa. Of course he is now the president who replaced the former rapist President. What a long way they’ve come from Nelson Mandela.

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When I saw the statements of police and government (also in the 2012 incident which was completely brazen) I wondered how bad the politcal/working environment had to be for these statements to be like…normal.
This got me wondering if blacks were much better, or even any better off than they were under apartheid. I looked up the minister mentioned and the one you mentioned Pat, they are both black. So ironically, apartheid has ended in that they are not just being killed or crapped on by white people. I’ve limited knowledge, but this one story seems to shed quite a bit of light on how bad the reality is there. Any quick thoughts on that PatB? Or @Kieran_Telo ? Cheers

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Yes, a few.

First, it is not a question of skin colour, but one of social class. The disgusting white Apartheid system has gone, so now universal suffrage. Great one might easily say. However, the truth is that all the long suffering and previously optimistic South Africans now have a very similar ruling class to the one they had under the Apartheid regime. Ramaphosa, the current president, was once a well respected leader of the mine workers union. He’s now a multi-millionaire with the same disregard for the everyday plebs (those he represented as a union boss), as the ruling ‘whites’ had before the 1990’s.

The optimism of all South Africans when Mandela came to power has been eaten away. In my view, there are two primary causes of this.

There was a paper put before the ANC ruling committee, in 1987 (I think). It was about the “Mr Minister Syndrome”. What happens when those with no rights, no vote, no freedom of movement or association, and very meagre financial assets if any at all, suddenly come to power; especially when they become the ruling elite. It was prescient however, no education of those likely to be in power after the fall of Apartheid was undertaken. Mandela handled this quite well but when he left, Mbeki became the president. His father was one of the stalwarts of the anti-apartheid ANC. Thabo Mbeki as president was weak and ineffectual. We’ve all seen what happens (Syria is just one example) when the son of a powerful leader is installed but not on merit. Fairly rapidly, the ANC became a vehicle for protecting ‘the party’, right or wrong.

The second primary cause of the current situation is a continuation of colonialism, except under a different guise. The secret IMF deal done 6 months before Mandela came to power, left the country hamstrung economically. And of course, all the global companies interested in the mineral wealth, diamonds, gold, coal, and agriculture continued on their business as if nothing had changed, except it is easier to bribe a minister who is used to having nothing. Despite a strong push by small farmers, Monsanto have pushed hard for GM seeds, and I doubt that went without a few brown paper envelopes. Finally, with little attention being paid to developing the countries agricultural sector, possibly because of the IMF, there has been massive migration to the cities bringing the consequent social issues. This was compounded by migration from countries to the north, especially the Congo, Angola, and Mozambique, each of whom suffer the appalling legacy of colonialism which is every bit alive today as it was 100 years ago.

The sea port on the Cape, was a key strategic one for the British fleet until ten or so years ago. I believe but can’t confirm, it is now used by parts of the US fleet providing a link between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

So in my opinion, the summary is meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

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That seems to me 100% accurate assessment of the situation. The old/new bosses, whatever, are probably safely in their clubs in London this very minute. Much as always.

The police tactics are sensationally cruel, perfectly on the level of the Israeli Occupying Force.

Thanks for publicising this story @Evvy_dense

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Thanks @PatB. Covers exactly what I wanted to know, and some more