Blog 10: Scene of South African Mine Shooting May Have Been Altered, Inquiry Is Told

As we saw in a previous article that I blogged about, South Africa is having lots of trouble with inequality and it is starting to boil over into massive problems. About 3 months ago the South African police fired upon mine workers who were striking over poor wages. These police officers struck and killed 34 protesting mine workers and brought back memories of killings of protesters during apartheid. These killings have sparked outrage within the country and in turn they have caused an increase in the amount of strikes that have sprung up at other work places. Furthermore, the violence of the protesters at the mine where the shooting took place had increased due to these poor conditions which have left workers outraged. Now, however, there is evidence that shows that the workers at the mine were framed to appear as if they were violent so that the shootings could be justified. There is evidence that was presented in court that shows two different pictures, one's that were taken during the day and ones taken at night. These pictures show two different images, the earlier pictures show workers without weapons and in turn the truth where as the night pictures show workers laying next to weapons that had been planted next to them. On top of this there are videos where the police are joking next to the dead bodies as if nothing happened.
It is easy to see how terribly inequality can impact a country. The lack of fair wages and good work has led to many individuals rioting and protesting their conditions. This has lead to violence and cover ups that are becoming detrimental to the country as a whole. This really is a testament to how much inequality can effect a country. The lack of unity and the growing angst within the country needs to be addressed, however, this is a problem with no easy solution especially after blood has been spilt. The government needs to work with the people to find a solution to this problem or it could continue to perpetuate and blow up into something that they can no longer control.

Eric Spregel     11/10/2012 2:49
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/world/africa/scene-of-south-african-marikana-mine-shooting-may-have-been-altered-inquiry-is-told.html