In the writing and commentary on last week's murderous strike - and the subsequent police massacre - at Lonmin's Marikana mine a certain fact has been endlessly repeated. This is that the Rock Drill Operators (RDOs) who are, apparently, at the core of the strike were only paid R4 000 per month by Lonmin, and were demanding R12 500.
This claim seems to have been first made in a news agency report on Tuesday August 14. On that day Sapa reported that "Striking miners vowed on Tuesday to stay at the top of a hill in Wonderkop, near Lonmin's Marikana mine, until their pay was pushed up to R12,500 a month. They claimed they were being paid R4000 per month, and those living outside the hostel R5000."
The source for this report appeared to be one Alfred Makhaya from the Eastern Cape. He told Sapa "He had been working for Lonmin for over eight years and was being paid R4000 a month. He was forced to leave the hostel to rent a room so he could have an extra R1000."
At some point in the next few days this claim by one - or more - of the strikers seems to have hardened into accepted fact through the sheer weight of repetition. On Friday, August 17, Justice Malala wrote in a comment piece for the Guardian (UK) that "AMCU dangled a fat piece of fruit in front of the workers' eyes: rock drillers (who are the core of this strike and do the hardest work underground) earning R4,000 a month were promised R12,500 a month."
On Saturday (August 18 2012) the Guardian's Africa correspondent David Smith reported that the strikers "are demanding from Lonmin, whose HQ is in London, a wage increase from 4,000 rand (£300) to 12,500 rand a month." He also repeated - credulously, given the strict laws and agreements which govern such matters - the unlikely claim of one Siphiwo Gqala, 25, who "said he sometimes spends up to 14 hours a day underground but does not receive overtime pay."
On Saturday evening the Daily Maverick ran an article by Sipho Hlongwane and Greg Marinovich based, partly, on an interview with someone living in the local Wonderkop shantytown who said he was a rock drill operator. They reported, after checking his wage slip, "His basic pay for the month is R4,365.90 - add to that a R1,850 housing allowance, benefits and some bonus pay and his gross pay is around R8,124.80. After his union fees, unemployment insurance, other fund contributions and tax, his take-home pay is just over R5,000."