The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Prof. Patrick Bond of the Centre For Civil Society speaks to The Real News Network about the end of the platinum belt strike and its implications for the future of labour in South Africa. He argues that the economy is about to formally go into a recession and that rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch’s recent downgrading of South Africa will likely lead to a great deal of posturing about the need to discipline labour and relax some of the gains that labour has won,...
Media for Justice's Sipho Singiswa was in Marikana two months ago at the height of the platinum belt strike. He talked to striking mineworkers and their families about the trials and tribulations of living in South Africa’s low wage economy. Mineworkers and their wives spoke with passion about their daily struggle for survival and dignity. President Jacob Zuma was particularly singled out for his polygamy and lavish lifestyle. The resolution of the platinum strike is an important...
Richard Pithouse -
The massacre on 16 August 2012, and the events that followed it, including the grinding strike that has just been concluded, have inscribed Marikana into our history. The name Marikana and the date 16 August have been carved into our history with the same brutality, blood and resolve that have shaped so many of the events that have brought us to where we are.
Around the world both the massacre and the long and bitter strike have often been decisive turning points in societies. From Algeria...
Gillian Schutte & Sipho Singiswa -
The stadium in Phokeng outside Rustenberg exploded in jubilation when the end of the longest strike in South African history was announced on June 23. Men and women waved their arms victoriously in the air and resounding ululations and cheering reverberated as a great burden of domestic hardship lifted. Workers had changed history. They had valiantly resisted the dogged state and corporate attempt to smash their strike despite the personal hardships that they had to endure to reach this...
Media for Justice followed humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers (GOTG) to the platinum belt in Marikana where GOTG distributed food parcels to 10,000 people. The mineworkers strike in Marikana has just entered its 5th month with workers holding out for a monthly salary of R12,500. Without an income, the workers and their families are experiencing severe shortages of food, hunger and health complications. Their plight has become a humanitarian crisis that has touched the hearts of...
Shawn Hattingh -
The platinum strike, which began on the 23rd of January has become a showdown with the mining houses, the media and the state on one side, and platinum mineworkers on the other. In fact, the mining companies, top state officials and ANC politicians have been doing everything to break the strike because they recognise its significance. The current strike, along with the wildcat strikes of two years ago, is an extremely important political event and its outcome, depending on who gains the upper...
