Marikana massacre

Rock-drill operators at Lonmin's Marikana mine began an unprotected strike seeking a large wage increase outside the established bargaining process. Rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union complicated representation. In the days before 16 August, violence killed ten people, including striking and non-striking workers, two mine security guards and two police officers.

Police assembled a large public-order operation around a group of strikers, some carrying spears, sticks and other weapons. Police negotiators tried on 14–16 August to persuade the group to disperse and surrender its weapons; strike representatives continued to demand that Lonmin management address them. Lonmin did not directly engage at the koppie.

On 15 August, senior police leadership decided that if the strikers did not disarm voluntarily the following day, officers would implement a tactical plan to disperse, disarm and arrest them. The Farlam Commission found that this decision was made above the tactical commanders on the ground and that a safer encirclement plan could have been used later. When negotiations failed on 16 August, the tactical operation began.

Officers opened fire at two locations, killing 34 mineworkers and wounding many others. The circumstances differed between the first shooting near the koppie and the later deaths at a second scene, making scene-specific evidence important.

The Farlam Commission found serious defects in the police plan and recommended further investigation of individual actions. It also criticised Lonmin's failure to engage adequately, union conduct and violence by some strikers. It did not establish every broader allegation of political responsibility.

Significance

The shootings prompted an official inquiry into police command, labour relations, union rivalry and corporate conduct and became a defining test of public-order policing in democratic South Africa.