S Africa mourns mine violence victims

A widow collapsed as clergymen led a stirring service in memory of 44 workers killed during a wildcat strike, just steps away from where South African police gunned most of them down. Minutes before that, five others broke down and rolled on a dusty patch of earth at the foot of a rocky hill where 34 miners were killed in just a few minutes of gunfire, in the deadliest day of protest since apartheid’s viciously racist rule. Thousands of mourners and sympathisers crammed into two white marquee tents erected near the scene of the massacre. Others stood in sweltering heat, opening umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun for a memorial service that drew in workers from across South Africa’s platinum belt. Emotional representatives of workers angrily chased away people gathered in small groups around the killing field, but gave no reasons for their action. As the clergy spoke, women sobbed uncontrollably. One director of the service made a passionate public appeal from the microphone for any social workers in the crowd to attend to the bereaved. “There are many people suffering,” he said. South African President Jacob Zuma named a judicial commission on Thursday to carry out a wide-ranging inquiry into clashes and the labour conditions behind the unrest. Zuma had announced the inquiry on the day after the Aug.16 police crackdown, when 34 workers were gunned down following inter-union clashes that earlier had killed 10 people at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine. Police are already investigating the killings, and the independent police watchdog is probing the conduct of the officers. But Zuma’s commission, appointed with unusual speed, has been granted broad purview to examine the police, mining giant Lonmin, rival unions, the government and any individuals involved in the violence. “It has been directed to investigate matters of public, national and international concern rising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people,” Zuma said in televised remarks. Retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam will head the three-person commission, which also includes two other senior advocates. They have four months to complete their investigation and another month to submit their report. The commission will look not only at security issues, but also at broader concerns about labour policies and working conditions, Zuma said. The inquiry will investigate any police orders to shoot, and whether the use of force was “reasonable and justifiable,” said Zuma. Zuma gave the panel wide powers “including the power to enter and search premises, secure the attendance of witnesses and compel the production of documents.” Politician Julius Malema, a vociferous opponent of Zuma, on Thursday warned the country’s mines should brace for a revolution unless workers’ conditions improve. Malema, whose fiery outbursts resulted in his expulsion from ANC, spoke at a memorial service for the workers killed during a wildcat strike at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine. If working conditions on the mines “are not going to change, we are going to see more of the strikes in the mining sector,” Malema said. “This is a mining revolution. We are not going to to retreat, we are not going to surrender until the white man gives us our money,” he added to loud applause from thousands. (gulf today)