How do we rebuild confidence in the vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa, after the blood of workers-the proverbial and actual exploited, oppressed majority-has been so senselessly spilled? The tragedy of the Marikana massacre (and let us not apply the fickle balm of euphemism in the vain hope that it will provide any comfort here) is that it was completely unnecessary.

The economic trends, the political milestones and the micro-social events that brought about the gruesome slaughter of so many workers, who are supposed to be the bedrock of the national democratic revolution, need to be critically examined.

If we adopt the position that it was necessary for hundreds of heavily armed policemen to use live ammunition on a group of citizens, no matter how unruly they were and it is clear many of them were also involved in acts of senseless violence, then we are a small step away from crude authoritarianism. There lies the abyss. Already the conspiracy theorists are trying to blame a ‘third force', which is the contemporary South African political equivalent of naming witches for social ills.

Already, ‘leaders', are trying to blame everybody else, the mine owners or the workers themselves, taking no responsibility for what has happened. If we allow ourselves to callously dismiss these deaths as the inevitable consequence of the workers 'reactionary' trade unionism, we are on the slippery slope to justifying the extra-judicial assassination of those we do not agree with.

Nations are built on the blood and bones of their citizens. These are often enemies or competitors in the formation of such an entity. In many ways, nationalism and sacrifice are two sides of the same coin. Citizens are sacrificed in the struggle for the nation to be realized, to defend it and under capitalism, to sustain the redevelopment of the social relations that prevail in the nation.

The use of deadly force against workers is a feature of all nation states to date, with few if any exceptions. The very existence of private property necessitates that the state will use deadly force when such property is threatened. That's the way of the world we have lived in to date.

We always thought that we were different. South Africa's exceptionalism led us to believe that the liberation movement and the developmental state would never allow such a thing to happen. Our innocence has surely been lost forever. In our case as a nation, it is even more complex, since the question necessarily arises; whose property is it that is being threatened and why is it being defended?

Questions of legitimate ownership run through our political economy, from the land itself and to the mineral wealth beneath it. The poverty so many face, the inequality so many live, the lack of housing so many endure, the lack of food and water some still suffer are all the result of the patterns of ownership that prevail.

We also face a deeper question-why is violence so endemic in our society? Violence is prevalent in the workplace, in the home, in the streets, on the sports fields and in the various recreational places we frequent. Until it affects one of our loved ones or is so shocking as in this case, we tend not to bother too much about it. One political assassination a week does not seem to shock us, but 34 on a single day does.

This bloody event marks the loss of innocence for the nation in the making and the end of the luxury of simplistic analysis and ritualistic politics. We can now no longer avoid the elephant in the room-the political economy of the transition. The national democratic revolution has always been about the quality of life of our people, all of the people. That we chose to deal with issues of property, wealth and incomes in the way we did in the period of 1990 to 1994 and of policy in the way we did from 1994 to the present, has always had consequences, some intended, some unintended and some accepted as being of no alternative. It is the latter that haunts us today.

Marikana is so relevant, not only because of the tragedy of the loss of lives, but because it laid bare, in flesh, blood and bones, what we need to confront-the abuse and exploitation of relationships formed under colonialism, slavery, imperialism, apartheid and capitalism. But we also need to confront the fact that despite 20 years of democracy and freedom, these issues have not been dealt with as honestly or as effectively as they could have been. Marikana has become a symbol of the state we are in.

We have frittered away the post-apartheid dividend by pandering to the fears of those who hanker for the brutal, racist, rapacious capitalist past and to the ambitions of those who covert all the wealth and luxury the elite had accumulated under that evil system. They delude themselves that it can come to them without a price. They should weigh these items against all the premature deaths of our society-most of them are the result of failing to transform the state, the workplace, healthcare and other aspects of our society.

There are a number of recurring themes in the discourse of our post-apartheid democracy. Race, racism, violence, fear, poverty, HIV and AIDS have always lived alongside the rainbow nation, Madiba, reconciliation, BEE and our excellent sports teams and athletes. We are often accused of undermining the nation if we point out the challenges, as if that means we don't recognise the achievements of so many talented South Africans.

Part of the difficulty of the period since 1994 has been the power of the symbols politicians have possessed and can wield to defend-legitimately-the NDR, the Tri-Partite Alliance and the compromises of the negotiated transition. But these symbols are also used cynically by politicians to defend themselves and their performance, or more usually, their lack of it, as leaders.

The proud history of the ANC, of MK, of the brave martyrs are called on to ensure unity and cohesion, but often also to cover up failure and dishonesty. With such power, comes great responsibility.

We have often erred by deploying maximum power to defeat those who have merely questioned the NDR, who have dared to challenge the Tri-Partite Alliance and worst of all, those who have dared to question its leaders. One of the consequences of overkill is that it leaves nothing left with which to rebuild, heal and make whole again. Marikana is a poignant reminder of the use of more force than is necessary.

As has been the case historically, the contradictions of our political economy have played themselves out in terms of race, ethnicity, generationally and more recently, in terms of class. This was to be expected, given the global financial and economic crisis.

This reality has exacerbated the contradictions we have faced as a country. Lest the liberals crow too much at the pain and suffering the liberation movement is going through, what has happened does not affirm their point of view. If anything, this loss of innocence is also the end of the sometimes brazen and wanton flirtation of our nation has had with the liberal pipe-dream.

The peddlers of this mirage argue that we can behave as the European and American liberal chattering classes say we should-we must free up the markets, forget about socialism or even social democracy, forget about affirmative action and BEE-a view parroted by the conservatives and neo-racists in our own society, who dress up as liberal lambs.

Where the analysis of the Tri-Partite Alliance has been absolutely correct with regard to Marikana is by identifying the root cause of the economic contradiction in the platinum industry dominated by rapacious, plundering, irresponsible, profit grabbing greedy corporates. Where it has been weak is the failure to explain how we, as the world's largest supply of platinum, are forced to be treated the way we are by investors and buyers of the commodity.

OPEC controls much less of the world's oil supply than we do of the world's supply of platinum, yet it has a dominant say in setting the price of oil and without exception, oil rich OPEC countries have benefitted from their resources. The same cannot be said of us with regard to our mineral wealth.

That nothing has been done about these companies is something that the government of the day and the organisations that lead it-the ANC, SACP and COSATU-must take full responsibility for. We, as members of these organizations, must ask ourselves some very tough questions, lest we make the mistake of allowing the malaise that grips our society-the culture of accumulation, of conspicuous consumption, of mediocrity, of superficiality, of entitlement and of unaccountability-to prevail over that of the culture of the national liberation movement led by Luthuli, Tambo, Mandela, Alexander, Hani, Slovo, Tamana, First and others that was characterized by selfless sacrifice and work to benefit the community and the country rather than one's own stomach.

These leaders always saw criticism and debate as healthy. They always understood accountability as paramount. They put the people first. When the state kills people who do not represent a clear and present danger to the lives of other citizens, it has ceased to be accountable.

When politicians do not take responsibility for these types of occurrences, they become the clear and preset danger. So we are in dire straits, but is this the end of the road for the National democratic Revolution? Far from it. The failures of collectives, of individuals and the setbacks experienced by such historic processes do not mean the end if leadership is given.

In fact, crises are often the door to a chance for radical reform, of the rejuvenation of a vision and a project. The very victims of Marikana deserve this and nothing less. If we succumb to defeatism, the counter-revolution will have won. Rapacious, extractive and essentially colonial and imperial capitalism will have won. 

Where to now?

There are many tendencies that could lead us astray at a moment such as this. One of the most powerful is that of the discourse of the press in particular that seeks to reduce these failures to those of an individual leader. While individual leaders must take responsibility for their failures and should, by rights, be falling on their swords, it was such facile analysis that got us into this mess in the first place.

A preoccupation with this or that leader as being the harbinger of doom or the savior of the revolution and the framing of the debate in this way, created the type of political factionalism that has paralysed our organisations. They are unable to attend to their responsibilities precisely because everybody is fighting for survival in a dog-eat-dog culture.

Lest anyone thinks this culture only prevails in the Tri-Partite Alliance, it is one of the main things that rendered the COPE breakaway ineffective and it simmers beneath the surface and the effective marketing facade of the DA.

Another tendency is one that decries the lack of vision in our country. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have the Freedom Charter to guide us, an outstanding constitution to provide a framework for us all to be equal citizens and of late the National Development Plan, one of a series of interventions outlining the need for socio-economic transformation and setting targets for this. The reality is that we do not have a leadership collective united behind these values, principles and objectives that are focused on achieving them.

Part of this is about being honest about the tough choices we face as a country. We cannot continue to extract mineral wealth in the same way we did under apartheid and hope to be a country that inspires confidence in itself, whether with investors or its own citizens.

We cannot continue to be a nation that allows the police to continue to function as they did under apartheid, with corruption, death squads and brutality being prevalent in its ranks. We cannot continue to be a country where we allow leaders to be re-elected time and again, no matter how poorly they perform, just because they are close to this or that individual.

We cannot continue to be a country that allows other countries to stomp all over the continent of Africa, effecting regime change, bribing our leaders and plundering our resources and hope to be a leading nation in the world. We cannot be a country that allows public servants to be paid well and deliver poor or no services.

We cannot continue to be a country that is dominated by the corrupt, the greedy, white collar criminals and a corporate culture that absolves itself of all responsibility for everything but the bottom line. We cannot continue to be a country where the leaders seek refuge in conspiracy theories rather than facing up to the fact that as they are in office they need to be able to deal with all challenges, conspiracies included, or they must make way for those who can.

Things To Do

• Government must make adequate funds available for decent housing, recreation areas, libraries, for all its citizens and where departments or companies are failing it must get rid of them.
• Big business must use its expertise to ensure that value for money is achieved, that the building projects are realised in the short to medium term and to take more ownership of the conditions in which their employees live;
• There must be a process of bringing about a revised Mining Charter that addresses some of the underlying problems. This time Government must drive the charter process and insist on certain issues being addressed (national Bargaining in Platinum, living conditions of workers, achieving beneficiation etc) There are a number of recommendations in the ANC report on mine nationalisation that seem to be relevant but which are being ignored. The mining industry must be transformed and the underlying problems addressed. If the mining companies cannot or will not do it then legislation is needed.
• The unions must use their still strong links with the workers to ensure that they are full participants in the process.
• Those who took the decision to unleash armed police that day need to be held to account. If the decision was taken at the highest level whoever planned and authorised such a response must be held accountable. Certain principles (proportionate force etc.) need to be reaffirmed, and a clear signal sent out that disproportionate force will be punished.
• The ANC needs to examine its leadership selection process. The six months running up to elective conferences are becoming periods of intense danger.
• COSATU needs to reflect on the decision to engage in ANC factional leadership contests. By engaging openly in the contest for several years before Polokwane, the federation has invited ANC factions into its structures and now even into work places. On the one hand Marikana is a symptom of the movement taking its focus away from the workplace and allowing unresolved grievances to fester, on the other it is an example of ANC factionalism coming into an already complicated situation and making it worse. Whilst it will never be possible to completely remove such issues from the trade union agenda it is essential that this is reduced. Trade unions must be allowed to address worker problems without deliberate interference from people with other agendas.
•  There is a need for a national debate on inequality and what is needed to reduce it. This is partly about leadership and how people should relate to workers and poor people. The parading of wealth and trappings and insensitivity to the plight of the poor is bound to be fuelling events such as Marikana - why should people hold back, when none of the leaders do? It is also about dealing directly with inequality: setting targets for an improved Gini coefficient; start at leadership level by reducing some of the high salaries in the public and private sector; a wealth or transformation tax similar to the unification tax in Germany. Until we address the massive inequalities there is no hope of avoiding flare-ups of this nature.

Government also needs to reformulate its program and go on a roadshow-nationally, in Africa and throughout the world to salvage our reputation and boost the confidence in our country once more. We have to stop complaining about what everybody else has done as an excuse for what we cannot do. What history has bequeathed us is our reality and we must start by taking responsibility for the current state of affairs we find ourselves in.

 Our history constrains us, but only in so far as our imaginations allow it to. In 30 years China has become one of the most powerful economies in the world. Countries as diverse as China, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, and Ghana are among the fastest growing economies in the world, so too can we. If countries as diverse as Iceland, Senegal, Saudi Arabia and Finland can be in the top ten countries with the lowest homicide rates, so too can we. 

Ours is a violent, society. It has been stained and suffered the abuses of colonial conquest, apartheid brutality, the horrors of genocide, poverty and disease. Lest we allow this culture of making human lives so cheap and human suffering so inconsequential we need to ensure that this society undergoes a profound and radical shake-up.

Our revolution asks nothing less of us than we take responsibility for ourselves. The memories of all of the martyrs of this nation deserve that we accept responsibility for what has happened to all of them-from Solomon Mahlangu, to Fezile Saphendu, from the five Siwa children to Alyssa Botha.

What binds them together is not how they died, but that they did and we did not. It could have gone either way for all of us and lest we change our ways, it still can. The fact that this is our reality does not mean that it has to be. We have the people, the resources, the global support and the opportunity to be a shining beacon to all humanity. If we are not, it is nobody else's fault but our own, collectively as well as individually.

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