JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
Please be advised that the site will be down for maintenance on Sunday, September 1, 2024, from 08:00 to 18:00, and again on Monday, September 2, 2024, from 08:00 to 09:00. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
History as a system of wrongs - examining South Africa's Marikana tragedy in a temporal legal context
On 16 August 2012, striking miners in Marikana, South Africa were fired
upon by the South African Police Service, resulting in the death of 44
mineworkers. For many the incident has signalled a turning point for the
country. This paper suggests that rather than a turning point, the
tragedy at Marikana is perhaps only the newest instalment in a centurylong
cycle of industrial action and government violence in South Africa's
labour history. Marikana is thus not a turning point, but rather a restatement
of the ineffectiveness of law. The article then attempts a theoretical
analysis of these events, as well as the matter of whether Marikana is a
true event that brings about political and social change. Although many
consider Marikana a "founding myth" for a popular uprising in South
Africa, the article cautiously suggests that it is in fact just "business as
usual".