Africa’s growth spurt

When South African police opened fire on striking miners at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine, it had all of the hallmarks of the bad old days of the continent – the tangled and violent business of pulling metal from the ground in the “Dark Continent”.

The events at Marikana were symptomatic of the fractious politics of labour in South Africa, the uncomfortable alliances forged in the anti-apartheid struggle that have not resolved themselves in peacetime. However, at their root they have the simmering tension caused by the unequal distribution of economic opportunity that is not restricted to South Africa.

The mining sector there, and elsewhere in the developing world, is nearly always a lightning rod for criticism and unrest. Exposed to the vagaries of the international commodities markets, mining companies are huge revenue generators vulnerable to rapid changes of fortunes that see huge profits turn to huge layoffs of unskilled workers in short shrift.