Sunday, September 02, 2012

“South Africa is a social, political and economic disaster waiting to happen,” "The anger is there. All you need is a spark, and then you will have social and political and economic veld fire burning out of control" - Aubrey Matshiqi

Cyril Ramaphosa.

JOHANNESBURG — When 360,000 gold and coal miners walked off the job in South Africa in 1987, protesting the poor pay and grim working conditions of apartheid-era mines, a charismatic young man named Cyril Ramaphosa, the firebrand leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, led the charge.

But as the police opened fire on workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine two weeks ago, killing 34 people, Mr. Ramaphosa, now a multimillionaire business tycoon and senior leader of the governing African National Congress, found himself in a very different position: on the board of the company the workers were striking against, the London-based Lonmin......


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