The loss of life at the Lonmin mine is a real tragedy. It is of great concern to me that politicians are barking up the wrong tree here.
It is very easy to make statements like “You should never fire into a crowd etc.” Just put yourself in the shoes of these police officers. If a machete wielding crowd is storming me I would also have opened fire, as would most reasonable people to protect their life. I would not stand around while you hack me and my fellow colleagues to death because you are unhappy about your wages. No police officer signed up to get murdered for the greater good.
The real culprits here are those that incite the miners to act like this. There is a sickness in South Africa when it comes to striking and protests. While everyone should have the right to air their grievances this should be done in a civilized lawful manner. Violence and destruction should not form part of this and those Union “leaders” whom propagate violence should be dealt with and an example should be made of them. If you are unhappy about your wages, protest in a lawful manner or better, quit, no one is forcing you to work there, but you don’t go around killing the people trying to uphold the law.
I for one support every single police officer in this matter. You have the right to protect your own life. Now I just hope you get those that incited this violence and that they are dealt with according to the laws of this country.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
