Realy inspiring article cde Palesa Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!
-----Original Message----- From: Palesa Motshoene <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 11:18:17 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Workers of Lonmin my heart bleeds *Workers of Lonmin my heart bleeds* ** ** I watched the bodies drop, I was hoping at some point it would stop. The news reader had cautioned that the graphic footage might be ghastly for sensitive viewers. Men dropped like bricks on the soil of Lonmin grounds. I teared up and gasped. It was as if I was watching a documentary of a massacre from the 80’s. Innocent men lost their lives heedlessly at the hands of merciless law enforcers; a sight South Africans have become quite familiar with in the past years. The case of deaths in Lonmin leaves much to be desired. I had to again watch a woman frantically asking a news reporter on sight where her husband might be. Hopeless and evidently frightened, she was hoping the newsreader would give her answers.**** ** ** As Leaders of the unions, spokespersons of political organisations and analysts attempt to justify what happened and point fingers, forty five men according to reports lost their lives gratuitously. They have been portrayed by others as irresponsible, some blame the alternative union from NUM and the classic excuse has been that a police officer was shot at; therefore police officers were within their right or mandate to shoot back. Now from the little understanding that I have of the situation, the men decided to organise a sit in on a mountain, as a sign of being resolute that they will not budge until their demands are met. The Leader of the union addressed the crowd urging that there shouldn’t be any bloodshed and requested the police to give them time. It is as if, he sensed that this would happen.**** ** ** Now from the visuals, it seems the workers were frightened at the sight of police officers surrounding them, as they were getting ready to disperse the crowd (workers) on the hill and possibly hence the tragic tumult. **** ** ** However no amount of justification will bring back the lives of those brave men. The crux of the matter is that these were not criminals, they stated very clear why they were there and police officers assumingly, are properly trained to deal with protests. We have seen violent protests all over the country these days and there is yet to be a report about deaths. We have seen violent union protests and again reports of deaths have never been witnessed. It’s preposterous to attempt to compare a life of a policeman and worker. The fact of the matter is that no life should have been lost. This was not a game of “bullet –for-bullet” and it’s iniquitous to assume that the workers ‘intentions were essentially to attack policemen; perhaps they felt they needed to carry weapons for protection as there was no security visible and it was not a protected strike.**** ** ** One is even tempted to believe that just maybe these men were victims because they were not members of a recognised union, stripping them of their right to organise themselves as they deem fit. The situation could have been handled better and bloodshed avoided. It’s disappointing to see leaders avoid taking responsibility and merely point fingers as to who might have been the instigator. The noble thing to do in this horrific hour is to honour these men by going to their families. We should ask ourselves what happens to the 45 families that have lost breadwinners, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, pillars. What happens to the children robbed of a decent future; mothers that have now become single parents overnight. Lonmin and the unions must take account and ensure that all these families are compensated and a decent burial is given. A worker’s life unfortunately still remains subhuman as we have witnessed. **** ** ** These men were on a hill for hours, probably starving, tired, scared and anxious. However in their spirit of determination they braced the dangers ahead of them and stood resolute on what they believed in; ill-informed or not. Leaders must account for these deaths. Lonmin will in the next week or two probably forget about this as if it never happened, but the families will forever despair, their lives distraught and poverty knocking to remind them of their stark reality. A life of a worker is incalculable; he breaks the rock which sustains this economy, he feeds the children of elite as his wait for crumbs back at home in the mountains of Lesotho, Natal, Eastern Cape. His strength is taken by mine shafts yet his spirit carries him to the next day. Salute to all of you, fathers, men of honour and workers who carry this economy. All they ever wanted was a decent wage to put food on their family’s table and change their material conditions. That was their only crime.**** ** ** I dedicate these few lines to all of you who lost your lives so tragically** ** ** ** *“Sisebenzel’ emgodini kanzima, sisebenzel’ imali’ncane uzoyenzani* *Sisebenzelémgodini kanzima, sisebenzeímali encane uzoyenzani* *Kulikhuni, kunzima, sisebenzelímali encane uzoyenzani”* ** ** May you find peace in the heavens, and hopefully take comfort that you no longer serve the greedy white man on your own land**** ** ** Amandla! **** ** ** *Gugu Ndima* *Descendant of the working class and the poor * ** ** ** ** ** ** ------------------------------ * Note:* This message is for the named person's use only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. 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