The Marikana Massacre, the Rule of Law and South Africa’s Violent Democracy

On 16 August 2102, 34 striking miners were killed by the South African Police Service at a platinum mine in Marikana in the north-west of South Africa. The massacre recalled the kind of violence that was supposed to have disappeared with the end of apartheid in 1994. This article examines the context in which the massacre occurred, the manner in which it was policed, and draws conclusions about governance and the rule of law in post-apartheid South Africa. The Marikana Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma concluded that the killings were not justified and that the police had engaged in a cover up. Police violence and a lack of government accountability turn the logic of the rule of law on its head. There has been a pattern of impunity and indifference to the rule of law during Zuma’s presidency that is symptomatic of a loss of democratic legitimacy that threatens the rule of law in South Africa’s violent democracy.