You might not be aware that significant strike action is currently underway at Lonmin mine, near the site of the 2012 Marikana Massacre that claimed the lives of 42 people over the course of a week, 34 of whom were shot dead by police on 16 August 2012, in what miners believe to have been an act of vengeance by the South African police.

The Mail & Guardian is reporting that six shots have been fired at Wonderkop Stadium, in Marikana, while striking miners gathered for a meeting.

Dressed in green, union T-shirts and carrying knobkerries and sticks, the strikers sang as they entered the stadium.

It is expected that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president, Joseph Mathunjwa, would ask them to end their strike at Lonmin’s platinum mines in North West.

Workers downed tools on Tuesday, demanding the immediate closure of the National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) offices at Lonmin.

Read the full report, HERE.

In other news, multiple Lonmin miners have committed suicide since last year’s massacre, as they battle to come to terms with the economic pressures of unemployment, and the emotional trauma of the massacre itself.

[Source : M&G]