Abstract
On 16 August 2012, 34 mineworkers were gunned down by police during strike action
in Marikana, South Africa, where Lonmin, the third largest platinum mining company in the
world, is located. This has been termed the Marikana massacre, described as a turning point
in South African history. Drawing from original ethnographic research, the article highlights
the origins of the now infamous living wage demand of R12,500 South African (or about
USD$500) per month which was more than twice the average worker’s salary at the time. Its
origins, which can be traced back to two specific workers, did not involve violence or interunion
rivalry, nor were its initiators militant or uncompromising as has been suggested
elsewhere. The article argues that the idea of violent solidarity and the assertion that workers
were motivated by inter-union rivalry, obscure the independent nature of workers’ resistance
and the way in which it was transformed over time. The empirical evidence presented below
also indicates that, on the evening which followed the massacre, workers held a small
meeting and took a resolution that they would continue the strike in order that their slain
colleagues would not have died in vain.