ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to scrutinize Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) 'voice' in relation to the Marikana killings by empirically responding to this central question: how did COSATU frame the Marikana killings? It examines this issue through an analysis of official statements from COSATU about the Marikana killings. The chapter shows that the ways in which the discourses exemplify the contentious debates at the heart of the orientation of the post-apartheid South African state. It also shows how COSATU's discourses point to and raise questions about the nature of political and economic governance in South Africa and in particular, the orthodoxy of neoliberalism as well as the extent of its contestation by ordinary citizens and civil society in poor and marginalized contexts. The official fall of apartheid in South Africa in 1994 ushered in an era of enormous hope and expectations regarding the socioeconomic development of the country.
