CPI statement on events in South Africa

Statement on events in South Africa

At its recent meeting the National Executive Committee (NEC) of  the Communist  Party of Ireland unequivocally condemned the shooting of 34 striking miners by police at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa. The deaths reveal a society which despite the progress made by the ANC government is still dominated by the wealth of multi-national corporations, wealthy white landowners with gross inequality among the black population, particularly in the areas of employment, housing, education, health and employment. 

The NEC welcomed the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by President Zuma of the African National Congress “to investigate matters of public, national and international concern arising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people".

The NEC expressed  support for the Congress of South African Trades Unions in its criticism of the National Prosecuting Authority decision to charge 270 people arrested at the mine as unacceptable legal practice and pre-empting the work of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.

The NEC also expressed its support for the call by the South African Communist Party for Lonmin, the world's third biggest platinum producer, to provide for the housing and education of the families of the dead miners.   

Communist Party of Ireland