Leadership and South Africa beyond Marikana

It’s one thing winning the revolution. It is another thing implementing its vision. That was the theme of veteran ANC activist Denis Goldberg at a meeting of ACTSA Scotland in Glasgow on Tuesday.

Billed as a speech about the Marikana massacre, it turned into a disarmingly honest and at times painful analysis of the challenges of building a fair and just South Africa in just 18 years after centuries of constitutional oppression.

South Africa’s Mine Workers press on with demands for better pay & working conditions

Patrick Kane of War on Want reviews the intensified struggles of South Africa’s mineworkers in the aftermath of the deaths of 34 mine workers by police shootings at the Marikana mine in August and quotes COSATU’s Sidumo Dlamini: "What we see happening at Marikana and elsewhere is that workers are essentially demanding a living wage. Workers are simply saying, 'We produce wealth and we want our reasonable share. And they expect to be given a fair share.' This is a reflection of the demands being harbored by millions of our people"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-kane/south-africa-mine_b_1967275.html
Leading COSATU affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers, is South Africa 's largest union organising in the mining industry: http://www.num.org.za

COSATU statement on Marikana Massacre

COSATU has issued a strong statement expressing 'shock and dismay' at the loss of life in the tragic events in Marikana and reiterating its heartfelt condolences to the families and fellow workers of those who perished. Calling for an end to police brutality and over-reaction it also calls for everyone to abandon 'dangerous weapons'. Most of all it calls for unity in defending the miners' cause: "Our enemy is not ourselves or some amongst ourselves - our enemy remains the capitalist system that exploits workers and robs them of the social surplus". Read the full statement here http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6437