Marikana and the silent violence in a democracy

ON AUGUST 16, 2012, 34 miners were gunned down by the bullets of the South African police while demanding nothing more than a living wage.

- PROF MPUMELELO NCUBE

Ten others had already been slain earlier that week under the same shadow, bringing the death toll to 44. History has since named this tragedy the Marikana Massacre, a wound reopened each year on its anniversary.

For the victims and their families, little has changed to transform their lives or the fate of the broader community. Despite the mineral wealth beneath their feet, poverty still greets visitors as they enter Marikana.

Residents speak of unchecked criminality, families struggle with basic needs such as healthcare, food, shelter, and a sense of neglect lingers. The town's economic lifeblood is mining, a sector that predominantly employs men, leaving many women without work and therefore more vulnerable to gender-based violence and other forms of abuse. Marikana's plight is a mirror held up to countless communities across the country.

Harrowing figures pale beside the daily violence

The massacre's 44 lives, harrowing as they are, pale beside the relentless tide of violence that has since engulfed the nation. South Africa records an average of 75.5 murders every single day. This year's commemorations mark 4 748 days since that fateful day.

At this daily rate, by the close of the day, the nation would have recorded approximately 358 475 murders. This is a figure that rivals, almost number for number, the United Nations Human Rights Office's estimate of deaths in the Syrian civil war between 2011 and 2021. Comparable death tolls emerge from nations like South Sudan and Yemen, long ravaged by civil war and chronic instability, yet South Africa, during the same period, has remained under an ostensibly stable, democratic order.