ABSTRACT
The offi cial narrative of the post-apartheid state of South Africa insists that, against a background of industrial relations in the pre-democratic era characterized by racial discrimination, confl ict, cheap labour policies and authoritarian management, ‘South Africa’s labour legislation is among the most progressive in the world, providing for institutions to settle disputes and ensure fairness in the workplace’ (South Africa Info, undated). Key parliamentary Acts passed since the inauguration of democracy in 1994 and the establishment of a battery of socially incorporationist institutions (notably the National Economic, Development and Labour Council [NEDLAC], the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration [CCMA] and the Commission for Employment Equity) have provided for the nurturing of ‘sound, co-operative industrial relations’ (ibid.). Certainly, the early years following the transition to democracy saw a marked decline in the level of strike action, albeit with a spike in the late 1990s. However, a decade later, South Africa was experiencing a surge of strikes and labour unrest ( Table 19.1 ), with more working days being lost in 2010 as a result of strike action than in any other year on record:
Yet worse was to come, for in August 2012, South Africa was plunged into the international spotlight by a brutal industrial confl ict at the Lonmin company’s Marikana platinum mines in North West province, in which some 34 workers died and more than 70 were injured as a result of shootings by police after they had been called in to confront an unoffi - cial strike. The tragedy recalled the worst days of state violence against workers under apartheid. Furthermore, whereas the post-apartheid industrial relations architecture had been intended to curb the high level of violence which had accompanied strike action during the late 1980s (Webster and Simpson 1990), the Marikana events highlighted a drift back to the use of violence by workers becoming a regular accompaniment of industrial action. 1 Consequently, for all the confusion that surrounded post-Marikana, with blame for the disaster falling variously upon the police, the government, employers and a trade union cast as having lost touch with its members, the events called into question the hopes that political democracy would usher in an era of industrial harmony.
