Hon Speaker, while we condemn what has happened at Marikana, let us step back a bit and see what should have been done. The triangle, which is made up of the employer, employee and employee representative, does not work in this mine.
Firstly, the employer should have detected that a crisis was looming and instituted a programme to counter the problem before the workers went on strike. This is the reason that the mine employs human resource management. Therefore, the employers have failed the workers. The employer should have had a plan to engage and to continue to engage with workers while they had been on an unprotected strike for over two weeks. Why was this not done? This could have prevented the workers from resorting to violence.
Secondly, where were the employees' representatives when the employees were furious about their conditions of employment? Why did they not engage their members in order to establish what the workers were concerned about, if they were truly representatives of the workers? They have sold out the workers.
The last leg, Mr Speaker, of this triangle is the workers themselves.
Uma ngabe abasebenzi bebengabathembi abantu ababamele, babengalithathi ngani ithuba lokuthi bakhombe abantu abambalwa abangakwazi ukuyoxoxisana nabaqashi babo ukuze kuvinjelwe ukufa kwabantu kanye nenhlekelele engase yenzeke?
Uma abasebenzi babebona ukuthi le nhlekelele iyaqhubeka futhi ababathembi laba bantu ababakhetha njengezinyunyana zabo, babengayenzi ngani imizamo yokuthi bakuvimbele ukufa kwabantu? Babengenzi ngani ngayo yonke indlela abangakuvimbela ngayo? Umuntu uma esefile akasho lutho noma ningakhokha isigidi esisodwa ngomuntu oyedwa akusho lutho lokho ngoba usuke esehambile emhlabeni. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[If the employees did not trust their representatives, why didn't they take the opportunity to appoint a few people who could negotiate with their employers on their behalf, thus avoiding the death of people and the tragedy that might happen?
If the employees realised that this tragedy was continuing, and that they did not trust these people whom they had elected as their union representatives, why didn't they do anything to avoid the death of these people? Why didn't they use every preventative measure at their disposal? It does not matter anymore to somebody who has died if you offer a payout of R1 million to each person.]
The IFP therefore finds these three groups at fault: the employer, the employee representatives - that is the trade unions - and the workers themselves. But the saddest part of this was when they called in the police - to do what? The workers who were not at work did not attack any of the management or disrupt their workplace except by withholding their labour.
Why were the police called to disperse the crowd? Is it not the duty of the employers to negotiate with employees at the workplace? It is not the duty of the police to negotiate on behalf of the management. Management knew full well that the police are trained to do a certain job. Why did management involve the police under these circumstances? On the other hand, why did the police agree to act on behalf of the employers instead of management doing their own job, doing their own dirty work?
Did the police who were sent to Marikana have the skills to negotiate on behalf of management? If not, what was expected of them in a volatile situation like that? Who gave the instructions for the police to kill, and why? Workers were not at their workplace; they were on a hill outside the mine. They were not a threat to this mine's management.
This is a tragedy, Mr Speaker. This was not supposed to happen and, out of the triangle drawn before, it seems that everybody has failed. People have died, including some members of the police. The IFP does not know how this country will learn to avoid these types of massacres, which happened in 1960, in 1976 and now in Marikana. Everyone involved in a massacre is a victim of this tragedy. Mine management must take most of the blame for this tragedy. They failed to realise that the workers wanted them to deal with issues that affected them every minute of their day, and they failed to engage workers fully. How dare the employer give an ultimatum to the workers that they should return to work when there are people still mourning their losses, when there are others still in hospital, and when there are others still in custody? The police are at fault, because they were used by the mine management to solve their problems instead of protecting both sides. I hope that the workers have now learned that negotiation is the key to success.
It is unfortunate that this culture of violence was brought to us by the armed struggle which, among other things, brought in the idea of making South Africa ungovernable. Whenever there have been ructions in municipalities, there is violence and destruction of property, like libraries and other facilities. It is a tragedy that we are not talking about it. This culture seems to be entrenched in our nation's psyche. We must do something to change that and remove this culture of violence from our psyche. We do not expect to be confronted with tragedies like Marikana.
On behalf of the IFP and my leader, we would like to convey our condolences to the families of all those who have lost their loved ones in the massacre and wish those who sustained injuries a speedy recovery. We hope that they will be consoled by the grace of God. Thank you, Speaker. [Applause.]