Nicolas van de Walle, professor of government at Cornell University and author of “African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis,” comments on the 34 protesting miners killed by police in South Africa this week.
He says:
“The shooting deaths of 34 strikers by the police during a work stoppage confrontation can only be considered senseless and reprehensible, even by the dismal standards of excessive violence in South Africa’s mining sector. “More broadly, the events may well prove to be a watershed in the decline of the African National Congress’ national legitimacy and hold onto political power. Even as it has increasingly been undermined by the stench of corruption and power abuses, its inability to undo the sharp socio-economic inequalities of the Apartheid era combined with a record of mediocre economic growth may finally be corroding the enormous capital of good will it gained by leading the struggle against white minority rule.
“The sheer symbolism of policemen shooting at unarmed protesters will have suggested to many South Africans that little has changed and that the state still serves a small rich minority rather than the impoverished majority. The truth is far more complex, but the events at the Marikana platinum mine, in front of the news cameras, provides a striking reminder of the African National Congress’s failures.”
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