Being poor or being paid a low wage and being unhappy about it does not constitute a defence for the way these miners protested. Putting your hands into a basket of scorpions (being armed, violent and disrespecting lawful orders to cease and desist), and expecting not to get stung, paints this picture for me. Of course it must be acknowledged that there are forces behind the scenes that have a vested interest in the positive economic spin offs from creating insurrections.
Black labour in South Africa is beginning to realise (or is being manipulated and briefed) that in reality they are a 'dime a dozen' and they must fight to get their desperate situation recognised. They know better than we do that the threat to their immediate future comes from their peers and the desperate unemployed sectors. They know that job creation is a pipe dream, and this is simply because they have already been made aware of, and are subjected to the cause and effect of income vs expenditure from their employers standpoint and spend. There are also exposed to the thousands upon thousands of unemployed people looking for work. This situation highlights the fact that if the employer says he cannot pay them more, how can they, the employers justify or even afford to employ more people thereby reducing their share of the wage pie.
It is glaringly obvious that the job seekers too are victims of cultural systems, beliefs, and problems associated with poverty in that they were brought into this world without a plan for their lives. 'This dam is overstocked with undersized fish .....there are 'X' number of semi-skilled jobs available for 'X x 10' unskilled bodies....this is not hard for anyone to recognise Add to this the threat that the Chinese pose to their current employers and the fact that these Chinese have huge sway with government.
The whole world knows that part of China's 100 year plan is that they need to control the platinum, uranium, gold and diamond mines and once these are purchased, they will use their own much cheaper Chinese labour which is already flooding in and colonising this country (Home Affairs knows). The picture that emerges is not a pretty one. Of course the Chinese will have a plan to reduce the numbers of potential risks to their plans...look no further than other countries in Africa to see how they get this challenge sorted out.
This is why these miners are prepared to 'commit suicide by cop' ......BUT, it is still no excuse.
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