Is it any wonder SA miners formed a new union the AMCU, when the former head of the National Union of Mineworkers sits on the board of Lonmin which owns Marikana mine.
― The story of the London-listed Lonmin's Marikana mine shootings is that of a trade union that cosied up to big business; of an upstart and populist new union that exploited real frustration to establish itself; and of police failure. ∙ It is a story which exposes South Africa's structural weaknesses too: we are one of the world's top two most unequal societies (with Brazil). Poverty, inequality and unemployment lie at the heart of the shootings this week. ∙ The Lonmin story starts [...].
