"Since February there has been a reign of terror in these townships," a worked is quoted as having said at a community mass meeting convened by the SACP in Marikana. "If you wear a red T-shirt they will target you," another said. Families had to flee the area, leaving all possessions behind, workers reported.
"I think there were between 700 and 1000 community members (at the meeting), many of them mine-workers from the nearby Lonmin and Impala Platinum mines and some old women concerned by the violence and disruptions of normal social life in the area," Mapaila said, adding that the view that much of the work-force is no longer at Marikana might be confirmed by reports that only 120 of the 270 men arrested on August 16 were actually Lonmin employees.
According to Mineweb, Mapaila said that Marikana is "just one facet of an all-round anti-worker offensive in the context of a capitalist crisis."
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