World

Graphic Photos Show Gruesome Scene After South African Police Open Fire on Striking Miners

Graphic Photos Show Gruesome Scene After Police Open Fire on Striking Miners

Police surround the bodies of striking miners after opening fire on a crowd at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. (AP Photo)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police opened fire Thursday on a crowd of striking miners that charged a line of officers trying to disperse them, killing some and wounding others in one of the worst shootings by authorities since the end of the apartheid era.

Police declined to offer casualty figures after the shooting at the Lonmin PLC mine near Marikana, a dusty town about 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg. However, police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi acknowledged late Thursday some of the miners there had been killed as more police and soldiers surrounded the hostels and shacks near Lonmin’s shuttered platinum mine.

The shooting happened Thursday afternoon after police failed to get the striking miners to hand over machetes, clubs and other weapons.

Some miners did leave, though others carrying weapons began war chants and soon started marching toward the township near the mine, said Molaole Montsho, a journalist with the South African Press Association who was at the scene.

The police opened up with a water cannon first, then used stun grenades and tear gas to try and break up the crowd, Montsho said.

Suddenly, a group of miners rushed through the underbrush and tear gas at a line of police officers. Officers immediately opened fire, with miners falling to the ground. Dozens of shots were fired by police armed with automatic rifles and pistols.

Images broadcast by private television station e.tv carried the sound of a barrage of automatic gunfire that ended with police officers shouting: “Cease fire!” By that time, bodies were lying in the dust, some pouring blood. Another image showed some miners, their eyes wide, looking in the distance at heavily armed police officers in riot gear.

It was an astonishing development in a country that has been a model of stability since racist white rule ended with South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994. The shooting recalled images of white police firing at anti-apartheid protesters in the 1960s and 1970s, but in this case it was mostly black police firing at black mine workers.

President Jacob Zuma said he was “shocked and dismayed at this senseless violence.”

“We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence,” Zuma said in a statement.

Barnard O. Mokwena, an executive vice president at Lonmin, would say only: “It’s a police operation.” In a statement earlier Thursday, Lonmin had said striking workers would be fired if they did not appear at their shifts Friday.

“The striking (workers) remain armed and away from work,” the statement read. “This is illegal.”

The unrest at the Lonmin mine began Aug. 10, as some 3,000 workers walked off the job over pay in what management described as an illegal strike. Those who tried to go to work Saturday were attacked, management and the National Union of Mineworkers said. On Sunday, the rage became deadly as a crowd killed two security guards by setting their car ablaze, authorities said. By Monday, angry mobs killed two other workers and overpowered police, killing two officers, officials said. Officers opened fire that day, killing three others, police said.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, thousands of miners had gathered at a rocky cliff within sight of the mine’s smelter. They cheered, sang and marched around with machetes and clubs under the watchful eye of police officers in armored trucks. Some leaders of the miners spoke with the police and largely followed their instructions, breaking up the protest as dusk fell.

It remains unclear what sparked the miners’ fatal charge at police. Mnisi, the police ministry spokesman, claimed the miners shot at police as well, using one of the weapons they stole from officers Monday.

“We had a situation where people who were armed to the teeth, attack and killed others – even police officers,” the spokesman said in a statement. “What should police do in such situations when clearly what they are face with are armed and hardcore criminals who murder police?”

(WARNING: Graphic photos)

While the initial walkout and protest focused on wages, the ensuing violence has been fueled by the struggles between the dominant National Union of Mineworkers and the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. Disputes between the two unions escalated into violence earlier this year at another mine.

Black miners long have faced low salaries and poor living conditions in shantytowns often beset by alcoholism, drug abuse and prostitution. Apartheid kept black African workers from more lucrative jobs offered to whites. Though the nation became truly democratic in the 1990s, the salaries of black miners remain low.

Mining drives the economy of South Africa, which remains one of the world’s dominant producers of platinum, gold and chromium. Lonmin is the world’s third largest platinum producer and its mine at Marikana produces 96 percent of all its platinum. The violence has shaken the precious metals market, as platinum futures ended up $39, or 2.8 percent, at $1,435.20 an ounce in trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, Lonmin stock plunged 6.76 percent Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. The company’s stock value has dropped more than 12 percent since the start of the unrest.

Lonmin also announced Thursday its CEO, Ian Farmer, had been diagnosed with a serious illness and had been hospitalized. It did not disclose Farmer’s illness.

Some of the carnage was captured in the raw video below:

(WARNING: This video contains graphic images)

Comments (136)

1 2 3
  • Gunnett
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:19am

    Don’t bring a large stick or a blade to a gun fight. Would people feel better about all this had all the cops been killed instead…

    Report Post »  
    • Hoax And Chains
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:26am

      Surprisingly there are probably many people out there who would have danced with glee if it had ended with dead police… twisted.

      Report Post »  
    • Flag10First
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:59pm

      Dead people?? Get their names and block them from voting Democrat this election. Surely Obama will try and make these fallen heroes citizens of the US so they can vote for him. Oh wait, it doesn’t matter whether you are a citizen or not to vote Democrat.

      Report Post »  
    • midwesthippie
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:59pm

      …coming to a city near you!…

      Report Post » midwesthippie  
    • Flag10First
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:01pm

      I think the guy in the green shirt is one of Obama’s sons…if he had one.

      Report Post »  
  • ThankBabyJesus
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:18am

    And they say they want to take our guns away… lol, no.

    Report Post » ThankBabyJesus  
    • KevINtampa
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:45pm

      EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING WHILE READING THE ARTICLE!

      This won’t happen here so long as we cling fast to our guns. It’s funny, Occupy calls for strikes and complete upheaval of government the most; yet it seems their crowd is also one of the loudest about disarming people.

      I think the only reason for the latter is because they realize it’s the constitutionalists who are heavily armed. They want the guns taken away so they can get rid of us. Little do they know that if our guns are taken, it’s those that provided the leverage for that action that will be mowed down by the new authority first. We’ll get the re-education camps, they’ll get the gas. Silly communist revolutionaries… Don’t they read the history of their philosophy?

      Report Post »  
  • yubba
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 7:59am

    Yep socialism at its best, it will be coming to a town near you, sooner than you think if Barry gets another term. State run industry leads to stuff like this, get a good look at it, this is the model of society the masterminds want ain’t it pretty.

    Report Post »  
    • Grandpa Dave
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:20am

      Yep… Probably if you fire the first shot. Idiot!

      Report Post » Grandpa Dave  
    • atechgeek
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:51am

      Grandpa Dave : A liberal resorting to their base defense .. calling people names and not contributing to the conversation with anything worth more than the gum on their shoe.

      Report Post »  
    • 666Sucks
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:54am

      @ Grandpa, he said nothing about firing the first shot, and he is dead on correct! Let me think of a few examples, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, and Obama! Ok, Obama “I believe” has only executed a handful thus far, Lt Quarles Harris, Bill Gwatney, Nate Spencer, Donald Young, Larry Bland, but his wing man Bill Ayers planned to execute 25 Million Americans if they got control of the country, which they have!
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWMIwziGrAQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
      Wake up Grandpa! In England their euthanizing sixteen thousand seniors a year by starving them to death http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161869/Top-doctors-chilling-claim-The-NHS-kills-130-000-elderly-patients-year.htmlf looks like they even have a plan for you!

      Report Post » 666Sucks  
    • NextGeneration
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:00am

      “Workers of the world unite!”. I won’t be surprised if SEIU and/or AFL-CIO is orchestrating the whole thing.

      Report Post »  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:41am

      “Yep socialism at its best.” Did you not note that Lonmin is a privately owned operation? What does this have to do with socialism?

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • AzSage
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:57am

      The difference in this country is that the miners would have been almost equally armed. SA disarmed the citizenry after apartheid so the government could rule with a heavy hand.

      Report Post » AzSage  
    • drattastic
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:10am

      “It was an astonishing development in a country that has been a model of stability since racist white rule ended with South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994.”

      ‘Model of stability” my azz ,S.A. has become a crime ridden **** hole.

      Report Post » drattastic  
    • cdn1979
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:14pm

      how on earth would you classify South Africa as a socialist society? i suggest you open a dictionary and figure out what things mean before you say them. You’re a buzz word guy. you just say it because the right wing machine that controls you says it. you’re a tool.

      Report Post »  
    • OhioRifleman
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:12pm

      @ Drattastic

      Apartheid never ended. I’ve heard it from immigrants that have been over in the region that apartheid has been reversed in South Africa; it’s now the other side that is the heavy-handed racist rule, in practice if not in appearance.

      Report Post » OhioRifleman  
    • yubba
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 6:12pm

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_South_Africa well excuuuuusse me, it seems that their government is a consitutional democracy, maybe like the european model, pretty close enough to socalism for me, I’m sorry that you liberals are so upset that your dream is becoming a night mare, that‘s right it’s coming here if barry gets another 4, we’ll be just like his home town where blood has been spilled there in south africa, slave labor where the government runs the show and the 1% and the government ,really reap the beneifits and we get nothing but crumbs, just like our brothers that have died today.

      Report Post »  
  • anthonyebaker
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 7:56am

    Where’s the Skittles and Iced Tea?

    Report Post » anthonyebaker  
  • Thomas
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 7:07am

    …charge police with weapons…get shot.

    Report Post » Thomas  
  • joe1286
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 5:57am

    If Obama had brothers…they would look like these dudes taking the dustbaths

    Report Post »  
  • AbnSnpr
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:18am

    Never charge a group of police officers while waving a club or machete. That is just not a smart thing to do. They WILL SHOOT you no matter where you are at in this world.

    Report Post »  
    • Cry_Havoc
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:20am

      ThemDems; did you read the whole article? Did you look at the pictures? Are you dense as uranium? They did use tear gas. They tried to disperse the crowd. They were fired upon with the guns taken from the two security guards, and the two cops that the strikers had already KILLED in the previous days. If I’m a cop, standing next to my brothers-in-arms, facing a line of hundreds of war chanting heathens, armed with machetes, and clubs, and they charge,…….G*D D*MN right I’m gonna shoot.

      Report Post » Cry_Havoc  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:32am

      I don‘t think he’s justifying the shooting and siding with anyone but merely pointing out that cops with guns will shoot you if you charge them with weapons in hand….what would you do? Its a sad deal for sure, but their strike organizers did not serve them very well. They should have remained peaceful!

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • kle57
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:39am

      Funny that most outlets arent reporting that 2 police officers got hacked to death the previous day with machetes.

      Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:42am

      I will shoot you if you charge Me with a weapon and I’m not nor have i ever been a cop

      Report Post »  
    • Quagmir
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:51am

      Im with RRFlyer. I carry a .45 with 14 rounds of hollow points. I promise I will only have to use 1 of them.

      Report Post » Quagmir  
    • eagle2715
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:54am

      THEDEMS…You didn’t read the whole article did you? Amazing how that’s happening more and more…

      They killed 4 workers and 2 cops over 3 days. 2 guards were killed by lighting there cars on fire while they were in them. Sound like a pleasant way to die?

      The police are also reporting (yet to be verified) that the crowd fired at the cops with weapons they stole from the two police they killed the day before.

      Then they charge the police line with machetes and clubs?

      I think fear of extreme bodily harm is more than justifiable to lay a couple dozen folks down…

      Report Post » eagle2715  
    • atechgeek
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 10:38am

      If I am charging police, I will not be wielding a machete or a tire iron .. I will have a gun .. so will my co-patriots.

      Report Post »  
  • ginger100
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:09am

    Were any of the ring leaders of the striking miners code named Tyler

    Report Post » ginger100  
  • avgconservative
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:44am

    Was that over at District 13? Where are the prawns?

    Report Post » avgconservative  
  • CulperGang
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:43am

    So, let me get this straight striking coal miners, the state kills you for striking??? In a civil world striking, showing disatisfaction, with EXPLOITATION OF LABOR, does not call for the death penalty.

    Oh, I get it. If you don’t disperse you get the death penalty. HOW ABOUT SITTING DOWN WITH THE MINERS AND SOLVING THEIR REASONS FOR STRIKING. obviously the EMPLOYERS gave them a reason to be dis-satisfied.
    What you are looking at is BUREAUCRATS repressing the masses. What your are looking at is a bureaucrats way of saying shut up and put up, because if you dare to march and raise your pitchfork at us…we will mow you down with our guns. Your existence is shat to the elites. This by the way is coming to the NOT FREE home of the whinny fat cowards.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj30lbc5_mI&feature=youtu.be

    Report Post » CulperGang  
    • capitalismrocks
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:53am

      Yes, but you are thinking like an American in a free Republic, that is a socialist semi-ditactorship, the police are the tools of the government, this is what Obama and his liberal creeps want here, why do you think they tried to do the fast and furious thing, to further erode gun ownership and it blew up in their face, now Obama is hiding the evidence behind executive priviledge which means he was directly involved in the whole gun running scam. When a govt takes away the guns from its people, then the people can no longer defend themselves and the govt no longer views them as people, only as cattle, if the cattle don’t behave…. they are put down.

      Report Post » capitalismrocks  
    • one.dakine.howlie
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:52am

      They were armed and took lethal position over the police you moron. Yes, you get shot for doing that. Striking doesn’t involve taking up arms against the police. On top of that they had already killed security guards, two cops, and beat up workers trying to return to work. Read the wole story next time genius.

      Report Post »  
    • sillyfreshness
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:42am

      Sometimes the best way to deal with trouble is to do nothing. The cops could have backed way off and let the miners starve themselves. If they got hungry or thirsty enough, they would have dispersed and went home. Same thing in Waco. Instead of rushing the home with a tank, they could have backed off and starved the Branch Davidians. Cops are always itching for a fight. However, I noticed the cops never bothered the Occupy Wallstreet protestors. They were good to go. Now if that would have been a Tea Party protest, I bet the cops would have rushed them 12 hours into their protests. That just goes to show OWS was backed by our government.

      Report Post » sillyfreshness  
    • Master.Debater
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 6:43am

      They didn’t get shot for striking. They got shot because they were an armed mob charging and decided to all charge the police en masse. Why would the stike leaders lead the workers whose interests they supposedly serve, to actions that could most likely lead to their deaths?

      Report Post » Master.Debater  
    • lookatthefactsjack
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 6:59am

      What a dope…they didn’t get killed for striking, they all had Skittles in their pockets.

      Report Post » lookatthefactsjack  
    • Cry_Havoc
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:41am

      So Culper, What did you expect the Police to do when charged by hundreds of armed, war chant crazed lunatics? Put flowers in their guns, stand there, and get clubbed to death, or hacked into pieces? “No wait, calm down guys. Put down your machetes. We can talk this through. I brought gum for everybody.”

      Report Post » Cry_Havoc  
    • Bob350
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:57am

      “The striking (workers) remain armed and away from work,” the statement read. “This is illegal.”
      Does this sound like something that left would like to be able to say. Sitting down and talking to the miners by owners of the mine is out of the question. At least it is when you have the military and police armed and ready on your side.

      Report Post »  
    • THX-1138
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 10:00am

      “So, let me get this straight striking coal miners, the state kills you for striking??? ”

      Better look up the word “strike” (aside from the humorous double entandre). Peaceful protests that don’t interfear with the right of others are the right of every free man. Striking an officer is another matter.

      Once you decide that aggressive violence is the solution to your grievence then you have already lost. But collectivism in general leads to mass violence. Marxist philosophy is vastly different from Marxist politics, one is Reason, the other is Force. Those who rely on Force will be met with Force.

      I seem to recall a Bible quote, something about swords…

      Report Post » THX-1138  
  • LONGHOTSUMMER
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:31am

    Reminds me of the Molly Maguires. Remember all the labor unrest we had here when unions were forming? Massacres were common. I know it’s different there with apartheid. It could even be tribal. The miners’ wages are a big thing. Some of them used to swallow diamonds and pick them out of their own poo the next day. The best thing you can do is bury your bones and hope for the best. Senseless death is never good.

    Report Post » LONGHOTSUMMER  
    • CulperGang
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:45am

      BLOOD DIAMONDS. the workers get zilch in comaprison to the value of the stone.
      DON’T BUY DIAMONDS someones blood is always on it.

      Report Post » CulperGang  
    • rafa2design
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:07am

      @CulperGang, unfortunately we men are forced to buy diamonds because 99.9% of women don’t care how it gets on their finger.

      Report Post » rafa2design  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:19am

      Culper, under socialism, the state pretends to be payng them and th worker are pretending to be working.

      rafa2design, forcing you? Really? Maybe it’s one of the tests wenches do to see if you are a beta chump. If you buy them, you are and she’ll repay you in many unexpected ways. Unexpected/unsuspected by you. OTOH, I must be lucky to scoop up the 0.1 %. Not one of them (dated a plenty of them, married twice) asked me for diamonds.

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
    • Cry_Havoc
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:17am

      LOL Culper. You don’t even know the definition of blood diamond do you? “A blood diamond (also called a conflict diamond, converted diamond, hot diamond, or war diamond) is a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, invading army’s war efforts, or a warlord’s activity.”
      South Africa is not at war. Also, the subject news story occurred at a platinum mine. No diamonds involved.

      Report Post » Cry_Havoc  
  • JUSTANOTHEROPINION
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:23am

    You charge with deadly weapons at a line of police officers with automatic weapons and incase your wondering what would happen, well, here it is.

    Report Post »  
  • adeleeeee
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:21am

    I do not have all the fact what happened there. I will not jump in to judge who get the blames and who is the victim. The only thing I can tell is I have friends in Taiwan and Japan and Korea immigrate to South Africa during 80s and 90s and all rush back to their home country after the apartheid was over.

    The fate of South Africa is dimming.

    Report Post » adeleeeee  
  • TreeTrimmerJim
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:20am

    Is Wade Rathke near-by?

    Report Post » TreeTrimmerJim  
  • Yakov-Yurovsky
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:52pm

    It is in my opinion that the only reason why the Internationale sent in its communist cohorts under the guise of ‘Free South Africa’ was to dismantle South Africa’s nuclear program.

    Soon, the white mans burden will be the Chinese’s burden. What do I care if the Chinese replace the liberal elite throughout the world, race doesn’t matter! I’m just a small time taxpayer. lol

    Report Post » Yakov-Yurovsky  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:21am

      Yeah, but the Chinese do have any Western compunctions abt putting down people. Remember Tienanmen Square?

      Africans will be begging Europeans to be colonialists by the time China sucks whatever resources they can out of the continent. The Chinese will leave an empty shell behind. Whites did try to leave a stable European culture behind…and failed to do so as they had in India.

      Report Post » Elena2010  
  • PetrusViv
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:42pm

    I dispute this fact …

    “It was an astonishing development in a country that has been a model of stability since racist white rule ended with South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994. The shooting recalled images of white police firing at anti-apartheid protesters in the 1960s and 1970s, but in this case it was mostly black police firing at black mine workers.”

    To many black leaders has refused to denounce violence. Farm murders has never more rampant than since 1994. The current political climate is brooding violence for political leaders either chant it on public meetings or shun away from it. This is the first statement I have read where our President blandly denounces violence.

    Only when others follow and activists are jailed like the Boere Mag was jailed will this sort of violence seize. I filly support President JZ… their is enough room in democracy to have your say and seek a democratic solution. One of the main reasons why apartheid was demolished was to stop these clashes with the police.

    Report Post »  
    • Vasbyt
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:23am

      If you knew anything about south africa’s history you would know that apartheid was established for seperate development. The Afrikaaner had their land stolen by the British and their wives and children killed in concentration camps, and at the same time when they got the ability to control the country that they founded, the soviets were making plans to conquer Africa. See book “ Soviet Strategy for the conquest of Southern Africa” which included all of the southern countries in Africa. The soviets knew that the white South Africans would be hard to beat so they used the blacks, ANC, Mandela. We fought Russian, Cuban, German and Angolan communists for 30 years.That is one of the main reasons for Apartheid too. Listen to General Viljoen’s speach where he said South Africa is for all people, black and white etc. It was the communist lefties in America and Europe that imposed sanctions and with Soviet propoganda caused negative images of South Africa. I remember when before mandela was released schools were already integrating and the ideas of segregation were ending. This happened when Soviet Russia crumbled and were no longer a threat to South Africa.But now communist China has accomplished what Russia wanted, the ownership and power over the minerals, ports, etc of South Africa and the rest of Southern Africa. I stood infront of thousands of rioting black youth before, you dont want t be there. please watch : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAqXOfJQQTE and parts 2 and 3

      Report Post » Vasbyt  
  • Maxim Crux
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:35pm

    Unions and Police. Same old story.

    Report Post »  
  • PetrusViv
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:34pm

    I am truly sorry for those whom lost their lives and their families and loved ones. This should have never happened. Unfortunately I do not have all the facts but the facts I do have points to the fact that we shall not invoke our Police. They are the ultimate defence against anarchy. If you try and break that defence or assault or endanger the life of a policemen you will face the consequences.

    Please do not endanger our constitution or right to free and safe citizen ship. Clashes like these with authorities does improve democracy, but enhances a police state.

    Report Post »  
    • FREEDOMoverFEAR
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:59am

      Websters defines anarchy as- “absolute freedom of an individual, regarded as a political ideal.” yup cops protect against that for sure and the Government wants you to believe men will run around murdering and raping if it weren’t for the police. Oh my there must have been so much rape during the colonial days before police had been invented.

      Report Post » FREEDOMoverFEAR  
  • randy
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:31pm

    Looks like black cops shooting black law breakers to me.

    Report Post » randy  
  • willingtoupe
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:05pm

    What? Go back to Africa? Why should I go back to this? Going back to something can only mean that I’ve been there before, which I’ve never have been.

    Report Post » willingtoupe  
    • 702TruthSeeker
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:31am

      dude who’s telling you to go back to africa? that’s the most racist s**t i ever heard! if you gotta go back to africa then a bunch of people should go back to europe, and asia, and australia, and all the other continents. if you can get a u.s. passport, you’re an American. not an african american, or a black american, just an American

      Report Post »  
  • RJJinGadsden
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:57pm

    Seems to confirm that their police are not in unions related to those of the miners.

    Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:12pm

      SA is a strange place. I had an internet friend from SA years ago. We mostly talked about our hobby, but also politics from the US and Europe to Zimbabwe and SA. He certainly had a different perspective. He was working to immigrate to Australia, then suddenly I stopped hearing from him. I have no idea what happened and not only never got an answer from this email address, but also his home address again. Again, it’s a different world altogether. Don’t apply our way of life onto theirs.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • Master.Debater
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 6:49am

      Who decided it was a good idea to arm the striking miners, some of whom were minors, with machetes and clubs and then encourage them to charge heavily armed police? What were the police to do, shoot them with beanbags? Run away? Machete-wielding mobs don’t have a very good track record in Africa.

      Report Post » Master.Debater  
  • vox_populi
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:57pm

    Remind me again who controls the State – Capital, or Labor?

    Report Post » vox_populi  
    • PetrusViv
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:53pm

      From a Employers point of view … lazy labour … from labours point of view Capital … Fact is violence will lead to violence.

      Report Post »  
    • barber2
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:59pm

      Vox: the issue is a bit more complicated than that. Especially when comparing Africa to America which is probably what you are doing.

      Report Post »  
    • The Big Mick
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:11am

      The STATE controls “The State”, that’s why you need to keep it Anemic, barefoot, and in as many chains as you can think up. Government should have just barely enough power to Hang Horse Thieves, NOTHING else.

      Report Post »  
    • BSdetector
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:35am

      @Mick
      that’s only if your goal is Freedom, Liberty and Prosperity. Judging from Vox’s past postings, that is the opposite of his goal, which is why he spews Marxism at every opportunity.

      Report Post » BSdetector  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:56pm

    Coming soon to America; only difference is that here at home it will not be the local police, it shall be Homeland Security forces, backed up by the unions and Obamas extremist and terrorist allies, such as the Muslim Brotherhood of America.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • FEWL
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:55pm

    I generally do not like authority or cops but having said that, if you charge a line of armed men (cops or others) with machetes and other lethal weapons you should not be surprised when they send you to your maker.

    Report Post »  
  • Lillith66
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:53pm

    The interesting part of this pic is the highlighting of the white cop, front and center. If you examine it closely you will see that he is the only white cop in the crowd. The vast majority, and I MEAN vast majority, of cops now in SA are black..mmmm!

    Report Post »  
    • willingtoupe
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:06pm

      Yup, media manipulation.

      Report Post » willingtoupe  
    • pwatkins
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 11:11pm

      I agree with you and the way it will be portrayed by other websites is to stir racial anger towards that one white cop…sad isn’t it?

      Report Post »  
    • PetrusViv
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:04am

      With the recent development in Botswana where military trained with USA forces and Mrs Clinton visiting us … I am affraid I to read danger in this type of media manipulation.

      Report Post »  
  • Jaycen
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:42am

    They rushed armed police officers in order to get shot. The dead men were the pawns of someone else with an agenda, someone who’s still alive and now clamoring for a camera and media attention.

    Report Post » Jaycen  
  • midwesthippie
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:22am

    …coming to your town soon…

    Report Post » midwesthippie  
  • SCREW-WINDOWS
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:08am

    Think they got the message ?
    I doubt it.

    Report Post » SCREW-WINDOWS  
  • BloodSweatandTears
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:36am

    I’ve been to South Africa. This is simply appalling. The shanty towns (made from random found materials,) stretch on for miles and miles. Built like honey combs, they build/attach to the shack next to them to conserve materials. Although I’m sure there are problems, this appears to be a dispute pitting union against union, using simple, humble, miners as pawns. The country, like America is filled with natural resources. The Chinese are there in full force aiding them in construction work and road building. They see the potential. The wealth is going to foreigners. They’re right, it should be more fairly distributed to the indigenous people.

    Report Post »  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 9:45am

    @AnAmerican111: “Who cares! It’s South Africa!”

    You should care, since South Africa occupies a strategic position should Suez be closed off, and also because of the importance of platinum, chromium, gold and other minerals produced there.

    Look at a map, then read the article again. Or do you see everything through a racial lens?

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
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