Human Rights Demonstration Planned for Marikana Area as Hearing Continues

We previously reviewed events surrounding the Marikana mine massacre at a Lonmin platinum facility in South Africa. The legal hearing and government sponsored Farlam Commission reviewing the incident have been delayed and delayed; originally the proceedings were expected to conclude in February, but a final date for reporting to President Jacob Zuma has once again been pushed back, this time to May 31.

The next two weeks, however, look rocky and ripe for further disruption in Marikana. Amidst calls for submission of any further video evidence, the legal team is expected to do an in-loco evaluation near the mine’s K3 shaft tomorrow, March 20. This precedes planned action by labor groups to march in the Marikana region that is tinged with combative language. You can see those anticipated events below:

Here are the events called out on the timeline:

• March 20: The Farlam Commission to conduct in-loco inspection near the K3 shaft.
• March 21: United Democratic Movement (UDM) rally at Marikana including mine, factory, and farm workers as well as students. The event, dubbed a “Human Rights Day Rally”, will be led by Bantu Holomisa, MP and President of the UDM. The event has been planned for months.
• March 30: Hints on social media of a march from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha under the banner “Welcome to Hell – SA Townships”. The march is set to take place outside of Cape Town, which is nearly 1500 kilometers from Marikana, but is driven by issues related to Marikana and the South African mining industry at large.

We’ll be closely following events in Marikana during the next several weeks. Here is a news feed  in Recorded Future so that you can do the same, and please leave you thoughts below on whether this could spark a new wave of mining protests in South Africa.

Reminder: Join Recorded Future on March 21 for a webcast on monitoring web-based open source information for securing the supply chain. Special guest speaker is CEO and Co-Founder of Sourcemap Dr. Leonardo Bonnani. Register here.