Marikana exposed flaws
2013-03-20 21:02
Johannesburg - The Marikana shootings exposed many flaws
in South Africa and highlighted the need to tackle problems in the labour
market, according to report released on Wednesday.
"Marikana seems to have opened up space for a
potentially constructive debate about the direction of the country. It is a
space South Africans desperately need to exploit," said the Centre for
Development and Enterprise.
Its report "Marikana and the future of South
Africa’s labour market" is based on a round-table discussion between
academics, business people, labour experts and members of the government in
November.
It concluded that it was clear the "winds of
change" were blowing through South Africa's labour market institutions.
The discussion focused on what South Africa could learn
from the experiences of regulating and reforming the labour markets of India,
Brazil and Malaysia.
"What Marikana shows is that the country needs to
tackle the challenges of the labour market with urgency and purpose," the
report found.
"It is to be hoped that this tragedy will spur South
African leaders -across the Cabinet, the business community, and the trade
unions - into a new appreciation of the fundamental challenges we are
facing."
It said "thoughtful leadership" was needed on a
range of issues central to the labour market, on more effective housing policy,
urbanisation, quality governance and the future of the migrant labour system.
The report found that the participants in the discussion
did not agree on all the key lessons of Marikana, but there were common themes.
"There was, for instance, wide acknowledgement of
the failure of leadership on all sides before and after Marikana.
"[There was also]... agreement that some of the
country’s most important institutions dealing with labour market regulation and
with local and provincial government are in urgent need of reform."
On16 August, 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers were shot
dead and 78 were wounded when the police opened fire while trying to disperse a
group which had gathered on a hill near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana.
Ten people, including two police officers and two
security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.
- SAPA
