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A policeman fires at protesting miners outside
Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine
in Rustenburg on Thursday, August 16, 2012.
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What could have caused the turmoil at the Marikina mines? Do we always have to fight for our rights through violence? What does freedom mean to us South Africans? Are we there yet? Why cannot we sit down and come up with a way of solving issues instead of using force and violence at the expense of other people?
I was very saddened to see the police and mineworkers of Marikana shooting at each other tirelessly. This reminded me of the Sharpeville Massacre 1960, even though I was not even born at that time. This goes to show that there is still tension with in the South African society and it should not be underestimated. But, how does the South African Police Service project grievance solving to a sense that we the citizens, start respecting our fellow police men and woman? I thought the police service is/was there to solve problems and tensions, but this proves otherwise and it goes back to the apartheid era, when citizens used to fight with the police repeatedly. Think back when an innocent man Andries Tatane was brutally killed by the police last year on 13 April 2011 , my question still stands, how does the police service solve issues of an angry crowed?
Now this comes to crowed control and crisis management. Although, crowd control is not the simplest thing one can do but, once you are jointly working together it becomes a lot easier. Communication is very vital when doing crowed control. I was once involved and engaged in a huge event, when the University of Johannesburg held a two day open day on 11 and 12 May 2012, and I have to say we worked well together with my fellow student marshals. We did crowed control like we were professionals and this is because we were jointly working together as one and, we communicated well each other.
Now coming to the issue of crisis management, this is where the Marikana mines should have involved their public relations department to resolve the dispute while there was still time. How do companies effectively use PR for a speedy recovery? This for me shows that PR techniques were not effectively used to solve the quarrel that was between the management and workers of Lonmin. Sadly, a blood pool of people was the answer to the dispute between the two parties…WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? WHAT IS DEMOCRACY IF WE ALWAYS HAVE TO REPEAT HISTORY TIME AND AGAIN?
No one to blame between the police and the protesters because those protesters had their dangerous weapons including guns,so the police had no choice to control them, thats why they ended up using their own weapons to protect themselves.lets put the blame on the management for their poor communicatin because they failed to fulfil the workers demands.
ReplyDeleteYes I think so too, but the media is somehow shifting the blame to the police beacause they saying that they were not supposed to shot at those mine workers. I doubt the police would shoot anyone for no apperent reason.
DeleteIt is really sad that this incident had to end in such a sad way,but im not going to take sides. The protestors and the police had weapons and either way someone was going to get hurt
ReplyDeletePrecisely...but people are blaming the police for the incident.
DeleteThe police department is not a protection system any more, it works on government commands to keep people quiet when problems occur it does whatever it takes to create the image that it is protecting our society but in reality the police as a department is trying to keep society from exposing wrong doing of the government.
ReplyDeleteWow you have a point and you know a lot of times people in the government never get arrested of charged for their crimes. So most of the government will always do squicked things because they know hey will never get punished, Jackie Selebi for instance.
Deletei think really the Longing should have responded early with the workers if they had communicated with them early they people wouldn't have died thats why we say companies,organizations and institute should always be proactive and adapt or else they will perish
ReplyDeleteYea I also think they took long to respond to the demands of their workers and I also think that unions are also to blame in all this. If the unions knew how to fight for the rights of workers, then much could have bben prevented.
DeleteThis was a very sad and touching tragedy that we as south africans should all stand up and try to fight. police have now forgotten their roles and duties in our societies just like AMABEREDE who were broadcasted on 3rd DEGREE for abusing the society and power that they have.we should all unite to fight this and the government must also be involved in coming with a solution or else fire each police that abuses power.HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE WE STILL GOING TO BURY BECAUSE OF POLICE???
ReplyDeleteTrue what you are saying but, people in the society are also killing the police man and woman now, how many police man and woman are we going to bury because of us the citizens of South Africa? Lets look on the bright side of things and let us be fair. I think if we could start learning to respect the our fellow police man and woman, and they too start respecting us then we will have a very good working relationship with them for a very long time.
DeleteIf the mine is paying the worker peanuts I do not even think that they do have a PR department to deal with such crisis because they cannot afford to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteLOL...precisely. done
DeleteEmpoyees and government must learn to address workers issues in advance before they embark on a strike that may lead to killings of people
ReplyDeleteThere is still a lot of things to be done around this country and employment equity is on top of the list.
DeleteThe story could have been understood well if the media did not frame this issue. Now we blaming the police, what about the miners and workers union. You right we need to learn to communicate without force and violence issues may be solved formally.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes don't like the way the media is framing issues, it like they use too much exaggeration to endorse people to buy into their stories.
Deletemarikana saga was one of the worsiest sagas in south africa, we cant blame the particular party but we can say all parties are concerned and responsible of this.(organisation managent,unions,police etc)
ReplyDeleteYes Mthokozisi it was the worst, and I think it's time to sit downa and solve isseus as a nation with the government especially things that are happening in the workplace
DeleteThis is really not acceptable, not in this democratic SA!
ReplyDeleteExactly totally not acceptable.
Deletewhat happend here is very painful and i belive that the mediza is not doing the story any justice
ReplyDeleteOr justice to the police and the national government at large.
DeleteIt is abvious that police officers still have no solution to solve issues of an angry crowed because they are still killing with the aim of solving a problem.
ReplyDeleteI do not think they did it intentionally...you might find that the mine workers are the ones who started shooting at the police.
DeleteYes, it is "fascinating" that South Africa is a Ddemocratic country but yet behaves undemocratically. Who to blame? That is still the million dollar question.
ReplyDeleteThe question to this is a vey tricky one hence they said they are loooking into the matter and come up with solutions and answers to the situation.
Deletei think we lost the democratic part here in SA, BECAUSE I DO NOT SEE IT ANYMORE... in the begining we used to see the basics of it, but nw it vanished...we still kill each other,yet we are a democratic country,our rights are still violated ,yet we call our selves a democratic country
ReplyDeleteI think we stil don't understan what it means to be free. We are still caught up in the past and, that is something we need to fix as soon as possible, while we sill have time.
Deletei also think that we have not enterily experienced democracy and i fear that history will repeat it self
ReplyDeleteYes that is so true, maybe we don't a have full meaning of what democracy is all about.
Deletethose police men had no right to shoot at the protesters. This goes to show that they are so eager to use their firearms but it wasnt necessary for them to have acted the way the did, results in a number people getting killed. This proves the idea that the SAPS is failing us.
ReplyDeleteBut we don't know how it started for them to shoot at them.
DeleteSo do you think that the people in Lonmin had the right to use the firearms to shoot at the police also? I think we should look at both sides of the story.
ReplyDeleteIt sure did seem like history was repeating itself, i mean clearly as the citizens of South Africa cannot exercise our rights without being shot by the police.
ReplyDelete