M.Sc. (Geology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Our aim with this study was to examine how the Marikana massacre, the killings of 34 mineworkers in August 2012, was portrayed in the news media in South Africa. We based our study on a discourse analysis of a selection of articles written at the time of the massacre. We have also used interviews with two journalists who covered the Marikana massacre, to gain further insight in journalistic decisions regarding the coverage. Through theories and earlier research we have analysed the content, among others we have used Burton’s theory of self-regulation and Gramsci’s theory of media hegemony. The findings of the discourse analysis show that newspapers have covered the incident from different angles, in accordance with the different conflicts that the massacre contains. We found a conflict between the police and miners as they are both portrayed as victims and the criminals in the articles. The second conflict between the largest unions and the third among the politicians Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema. We have concluded that there is a political discourse and the political key players have used the massacre as means to gain political support. Through the discourse analysis we have also found that newspapers are at times critical towards government and authorities.

M.Sc. (Geology) / The study aims to provide a geometallurgical assessment, including an evaluation of the response of different facies types of the Merensky Reef to mineral processing, and the identification of critical characteristics that determine processing behaviour. This is accomplished by obtaining quantitative mineralogical information, combined with chemical assay, laboratory scale milling and flotation testing. Lonmin Platinum’s Marikana Mine is located on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex to the east of Rustenburg. Platinum group elements (PGE) occur in, and are mined from, a variety of facies types of the Merensky Reef, and the UG2. For the purpose of the present study, three facies types of Merensky Reef samples and one sample of UG2 were used. The Merensky facies samples comprise of the BK, RPM, and Western Platinum variants. The mineral assemblages of the various Merensky Reef facies types at this locality comprise varying amounts of orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, olivine, talc, serpentine, chlorite, chromite, magnetite and sulphides (mainly pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite). Approximately 20 individual 10 cm channel samples were collected from each of the facies variants of the Merensky Reef, and the UG2. These are coarsely crushed, mineral modal abundances determined using the MLA, and then analysed for Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, S and 6 PGE. The samples were then combined per facies type, and each of these composites subjected to laboratory scale milling and flotation testing. Abundant sulphide typically occurs with (is associated with) thin chromitite stringers, as is commonly observed in the Merensky Reef throughout the whole of the Bushveld Complex. Chromitite stringers are characterized by high PGE concentrations. The milling behaviour of the various facies samples, as well as flotation behaviour, was observed to be a function of mineralogy. The influence of ore mineralogy on the various stages of flotation, the mineralogical makeup of the various flotation concentrates, and the level of recovery of the PGE’s during flotation, were also investigated. Ore facies having the most abundant anorthite required the longest milling time to achieve the target grind of 60wt.% passing 75μm; and the ore with the most abundant enstatite produced the largest mass pull on floating. The facies with higher PGE grade, modal abundance of base metal sulphides, higher degree of liberation of base metal sulphides and least enstatite abundance produced the most favourable set of characteristics for efficient PGE recovery.

The basic structures of collective bargaining in South Africa have evolved since industrialisation, through the Wiehahn-Commission era until the Farlam one and beyond, resulting in a number of legislative changes from 1924 to 2014. While dealing with collective bargaining, it is not possible to divorce the powerful history of mining from the South African story, from the diamond fields in Kimberley to the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, where the mine employees’ focused on cheap, unskilled labour and migrant system in the 1900s to the tragic events at Marikana in 2012. In the advent of the industry revolution, employment relationships changed as competitive demands placed a great need for advancing economic developments which are often expressed through collective-bargaining. The objective of collective bargaining is to arrive at an agreement between the employer and employees to determine mutually beneficial terms and conditions of employment such agreement may prohibit unions to embark on an industrial action for as long as it is in place. Strikes became important during the Industrial Revolution, when many worked in factories and mines. Often when employees’ demands are not met, they resort to strike action. Strike action is when a number of employees stop rendering their service in protest to express their grievances. These strikes are usually led by labour unions to get better pay, working hours or working conditions during collective bargaining as a last resort. While trade union leadership fails to advance employees’ cause, employees resort to informal alternative structures to negotiate on their behalf. South Africans have a tradition of taking to the streets in protest when unhappy about issues and this tradition did not spring up during the apartheid era but has been around from as early as 1922 to date. Protests in South Africa today draw from past repertoires and at the same time push for new political practices and directions. Strikes are often used to: Pressure governments to change its policies like in the Rand Revolt; Strikes can destabilise the rule of a particular political party like a series of strikes by blacks in the 1970s and 1980s including the 1973 Durban dockworkers and the 1987 miners’ strikes; Strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance like Treatment Action Campaign and community struggles such Abahlali Base Mjondolo. On the strike issues in South Africa, the researcher draws from the terrible incident that transpired in August 2012 at Lonmin Mine-Marikana and how it has affected the collective bargaining landscape in South Africa. The first real and significant labour unrest, the Witwatersrand miner strike rocked South Africa to the core in 1922 and in 2012, ninety years later the violent strike by the Rock Operational Drillers at Lonmin following the Marikana massacre and as such did not enjoy statutory protection under the LRA because was classified as wildcat strike. Normally, a wildcat strike constitutes a violation of a collective bargaining agreement in place and as such is not protected unless a union joins it and ratifies the protest. The union may, however, discipline its members for participating in a wildcat strike and impose fines. Among other things miners mainly demanded a wage increment of R12500 per month. The fight between AMCU and NUM for organisational rights also found its way into the equation. A strike wave, not only linked to the mining sector, made 2012 the most protest filled year since the end of apartheid, rolled out across South Africa, closing some industrial operations and crippling others. Commentators argue that the strike wave emerged from a landscape of extreme inequality and poverty, made intolerable by the additional financial burdens arising from the migrant labour system. These factors influenced the industrial action and institutions of collective bargaining comprising of both company and union structures and processes, were found wanting in their ability to address the root causes of the crisis. The post-Marikana strike wave made a mark in the workers struggle movement as it drew in thousands of workers to join AMCU and at the same time weakening NUM, the then majority union. The strike led to the rise and growth of AMCU which was seen by miners as the driver for change. The 2012 strike wave and the Marikana massacre not only changed the balance of forces on the ground against the NUM, but also generated divisions within COSATU. The divisions were between those who decided to remain deaf to the workers’ call for transformation and those who had already realised that a decisive turn in economic policy was needed to avoid a social, economic and political crisis. In the aftermath of the strike, a number community struggles increased as 2012 began and on the other side, a number of splinter groups from COSATU mushroomed which was hobbled by in fights. NUM’s collapse is indeed part of a series of recent failures for COSATU.

Far from signalling the end of social dialogue, the Marikana massacre underscores the importance of refining and adapting existing peak-level negotiating fora such as the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). To ensure social dialogue remains an integral component of the South African policy-making and national decision-making system, social partners rely on a system of consultation and dialogue to build on a shared national vision. Dialogue is accepted as a means of consolidating a young, democratic but deeply divided South African society. It’s also a medium through which to enhance participation in policy formulation and decision-making. The study reaffirms the critical role that social dialogue plays in a developing economy such as South Africa using the case study of the Marikana massacre to illustrate this point. However, through an analysis of official documents and media reports, as well as selected interviews, the study highlights that the effectiveness of social dialogue through a statutory structure such as Nedlac, is at risk of collapse due to the low levels of commitment of the social partners involved in the Council’s processes. The enhanced maturity of collective bargaining in creating a platform for engagement between labour and business is also emphasised through the outcomes of the research. The research recommends an overhaul of social dialogue principles and practices in order to derive benefit from the numerous benefits inherent in social dialogue. / Mini Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria 2017. / Sociology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science. 2016. / An important feature of the Merensky Cyclic Unit in the Bushveld Complex is the association of platinum group metals with narrow chromitite layers. The appearance and removal of chromitite layers in this unit has been used to define facies types. This study explores the hypothesis that individual chromitite layers within the Merensky Cyclic Unit at Marikana have distinguishing major element concentrations or ratios which could assist in tracing the continuity of the chromitite layers between facies types which is characterized by single or multiple layers. The examination of field relationships of the chromitite layers at the transition between facies types will be useful to improve understanding of lithological continuity. This study has two approaches; the first being the examination of underground exposures and petrographic analysis, and secondly by chemical analysis of chromite grains within the chromitite layers. No chromite mineral compositional trends or similarities were observed for grains in chromitite layers hosted by the same silicate mineral. The mineral chemistry evidence suggests that post cumulus processes are considered to have changed the primary chromite compositions and that reequilibration has occurred due to reaction with trapped intercumulus liquid. Little to no reaction with the host silicates of plagioclase and pyroxene is envisaged. The slow cooling of the Bushveld Complex has allowed intercumulus liquid a greater opportunity to equilibrate with the early minerals, destroying the early magmatic history by reaction and recrystallization. The cumulate deposition model envisaged to have formed the Merensky Cyclic unit at Marikana is by the emplacement of several pulses of superheated magma, supported by the occurrence of several chromitite layers within the sequence. / LG2017

An event study is an economic tool of analysis that has begun to gain popularity in recent empirical literature. It is a technique that gives a researcher the opportunity to map out the reaction of a firm's stock to an event, usually making use of daily or monthly data. However, up to this point, event study methodology has generally been applied to more traditional phenomena capable of affecting equity value, such as dividend and macroeconomic policy announcements, and there have only been a few exceptions to this. This study looks at what impact the tragic shootings at Lonmin mine in Marikana on August 16th 2012 had on the share prices of platinum mining firms based in South Africa using event study methodology. It makes use of the technique to investigate how the share prices responded to the tragedy over a number of trading days, including the day of the shootings. To be best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to analyse the impact on share prices using events of this nature. For the investigation, daily returns data was used for each firm. The abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns to each were then calculated and compared with their respective expected returns in order to determine whether investors in the shares of that particular firm reacted positively, negatively or not at all. The evidence found suggests that tragedies of this nature are capable of influencing share prices in the same manner as more traditional economic phenomena. Overall, only one firm was found to have been negatively affected by the shootings in a persistent manner, while the shares of the other firms examined reacted in a manner that was positive overall, but varied according to individual firm characteristics such as size. These finding conformed to our a priori expectations. In addition, the results also confirm the benefits of applying event study methodology to a wide variety of phenomena that fall outside the boundaries usually associated with business.

Text in English / This research focuses upon the killing on 16 August 2012, by the South African Police Service, of miners working in Marikana, in the North West Province, in their struggle for a just wage. This experience highlighted the ethical question of the relationship between the employee and the employer. This research investigates this question by reference to the evolution of the doctrine of the “just wage” and the “just price” in Western moral philosophy. The investigation shows that this Western doctrine is a significant basis for an ethical evaluation of the relationship between employee and the employer. However, the doctrine does require expansion by taking the woman as an indispensable factor in labour relations. Also, it requires deepening by engaging in dialogue with other philosophies of the world, in this particular case, the philosophy of Ubuntu. The dialogue with Ubuntu is justified by the fact that the majority of the miners, the actual diggers of the mineral wealth, are born into and nurtured through the philosophy of Ubuntu, even if some may have reservations about it. The dialogue reveals a specific philosophical issue, namely, a clash of the epistemological and moral paradigms. The Ubuntu epistemological-ethical maxim of feta kgomo o tshware motho (if and when one must choose between the continual accumulation of wealth and the preservation of human life then one ought to opt for the latter) is fundamentally at odds with capitalism, an economic system that elevates wealth and money to the status of a deity. A resolution of this conflict is an ethical imperative. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Philosophy)

This is a research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Diversity Studies, in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / Prior to and immediately following 1994, South African youth literature has largely focused on atypical groups, especially young people’s participation in political protest and violence (Marks 2001; Ntsebeza 1993; Seekings 1993; Straker 1992; Van Kessel 2000). The challenge for new research is to grapple more broadly with the question of how young people construct ordinary lives and identities amid the changing and transforming socio-cultural, economic and political landscape. As such, this study aimed to focus on the ordinary, quotidian narratives of youth in an extraordinary place of Marikana, where the massacre of striking mineworkers took place in 2012. Face-to-face, individual interviews were conducted with 8 participants (aged between 19 and 31 years) living in Marikana, including people who were born in or had migrated to Marikana. Both structural and thematic analyses were used to analyse the transcribed texts. The structural analysis was used to examine how poverty plays a role in the form of stories told. The thematic analysis focused on the content of the narratives, drawing linkages across participants’ stories to understand how they make meaning of events and experiences in their lives. The themes identified were organised as follows: Marikana (nostalgia about the place of Marikana, and belonging to the place of Marikana), childhood in Marikana and elsewhere (growing up in Marikana, and growing up elsewhere), families and their structure (single-parent headed and transnational families, (grand)mothers as pillars of family, and (inter)generational absence/presence of fathers), education (lack of funds for schooling), and possibilities for the future (dreams and futures deferred, and fantasies of escape). The findings indicate that the trauma and violence of the Marikana Massacre was remarkably marginal in their narratives. Instead, participants stressed poverty as a systemic problem that is far more pervasive in how they (re)produce(d) their stories. This core finding reveals poverty as a perpetual structural violence, a repeated state of trauma that is inflicted on their lives and reflected in their stories. Further findings show that many biological fathers are absent in the lives of their children, mostly due to migration or death. Consequently, sons follow in their fathers’ footsteps, leaving their new families behind (some becoming transnational parents). This produces a prevalent intergenerational absence of fathers in Marikana. As a result, mothers and grandmothers are the main breadwinners and emotional pillars of the family. / MT2017

Thesis (M. A. (Sociology)) --University of Limpopo, 2017 / The purpose of this study was to explain the events surrounding the Marikana miners’ strike in 2012, using Marxism’s concept of class consciousness. The labour disputes witnessed at Marikana in 2012 represent one of the major labour movements that South Africa has witnessed since the inception of democracy. This study adopted qualitative research methods to inquire into the events of the Marikana 2012 labour disputes. Methods used in this study include qualitative research, descriptive research design, Marxism critical inquiry, purposive sampling and critical discourse analysis. Moreover, the study investigated employee relations in the mining sector. In addition, this study also examined the Marikana miner’s working and living conditions and probed the role of social control agencies, including, trade unions, bargaining councils and the police, during the protests. This study proposes a fair distribution of wealth in the mining sector and the removal of the Migrant Labour System. Additionally, this study recommends transparency in the mining sector, the transformation of the education system and the restructuring of trade unions. / University of Limpopo Research Office