Ramaphosa was right to call for action

To argue that he colluded in murder is an absurd and slanderous lie, writes Ray Hartley

ON Tuesday the lawyer representing miners injured in the Marikana shootings pulled off an incredible feat.

Dali Mpofu sold the country a story that beggared belief. It read that none other than Cyril Ramaphosa, a member of the Lonmin board and a leading light in the ANC, was behind the police action which left 34 dead at Marikana.

It was an astonishing piece of spin doctoring that was swallowed hook, line and sinker by some who should have known better.

On Wednesday, the newspapers, radio and television ran with Mpofu's spin, quoting him extensively - even gleefully - without subjecting his very serious assertions to the slightest interrogation.

One newspaper went so far as to publish the front-page headline, "Cyril made call" with a subheading, "Dali Mpofu fingers businessman and ANC leader for his role in mass murder". That's right - "his role in mass murder"!

What was the evidence to back up this astonishing charge? A series of e-mails between Ramaphosa and other Lonmin managers in which Ramaphosa describes, in a somewhat pleading, frustrated voice, his efforts to get law and order restored at the Marikana mine.

In one, Ramaphosa tells Lonmin chairman Roger Phillimore how he attempted to cajole the Minerals and Energy Minister, Susan Shabangu, into doing something about the illegal strike. He proposed to her that "we should have a discussion to see what she needs to do".

He writes that he has spoken to the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to suggest that they intervene.

In another, Lonmin's chief commercial officer, Albert Jamieson, tells Ramaphosa of his frustration at the minister's failure to show leadership. He makes the comment that "this is not an industrial relations issue but a civil unrest/destabilisation/criminal issue that could not be resolved without political intervention". He says he is grateful the police are now on site in large numbers.

Ramaphosa responds: "The terrible events that have unfolded cannot be described as a labour dispute. They are plainly dastardly criminal and must be characterised as such. In line with this characterisation there needs to be concomitant action to address the situation." He writes that he has "said as much to the minister of safety and security".

Based on this exchange, Mpofu reached his astonishing conclusion. He told the commission into the killings: "It is clear Ramaphosa was directly involved by advising what was to be done to address these 'dastardly criminal actions', which he says must be characterised as such and dealt with effectively."

It is plain from the most superficial reading of this e-mail correspondence that Ramaphosa did characterise the strike as criminal and that he wanted something to be done about it. He had that in common with many South Africans who were appalled that the strike had been allowed to reach such a crisis point. But to conclude that Ramaphosa colluded in "mass murder" is entirely another matter. It would imply that he somehow influenced the police to use live ammunition to shoot and kill the strikers, something which is so absurd as to be laughable.

Was Ramaphosa right to characterise the strike as criminal and to call on the state and political leaders to intervene? Leaving aside for the moment that this is exactly what some of the newspapers which were now "exposing" him as a closet mass murderer were urging in their editorials, the answer can only be an unequivocal Yes.

The strike was illegal because it had been called outside of the collective bargaining agreements that govern labour relations.

And South Africa's labour law is one of the most progressive in the world when it comes to bargaining and protecting the right to a legal strike.

More than that, 10 people had been killed in the most brutal manner by the strikers illegally gathered on the hill.

Let's look at what occurred in the days leading up to the Ramaphosa e-mails.

On Sunday August 12, two Lonmin security guards, Frans Mabelane and Hassan Fundi, were hacked and then burnt to death by a mob of striking miners.

The guards, who had been off duty, were asked to come to work to secure the mine against a volatile and violent mob.

The following day, police attempted to negotiate with the heavily armed miners outside Lonmin. They wanted them to lay down their weapons, but were rebuffed. Eventually the strikers agreed to move to the koppie. As they moved to the koppie, two policemen became isolated. They were ambushed and brutally hacked to death.

On Tuesday August 14, the body of a NUM shop steward was found by journalists. He had been hacked to death and a cow's skull had been placed on his chest.

A NUM official told this newspaper: "Some of the dead [had their] heads hacked and their tongues pulled out ... others had their eyes gouged and their lips chopped out." He had seen pictures of the dead police and security guards and he was shaken. "What I saw will haunt me forever," he said.

The next day Ramaphosa and the Lonmin executives exchanged the e-mails described earlier.

Far from instigating "mass murder", Ramaphosa would have failed in his duty as a Lonmin director and as a citizen of this country if he had not done everything in his power to lobby the government, police and his fellow business leaders to intervene.

What is suggested is that Ramaphosa knew the response would be violent and that lives would be lost, but didn't care.

This is laughable. South Africa would not have the Bill of Rights or the constitution that it has today had it not been for the efforts of Ramaphosa.

To suggest that he has been won over by the dark side and now believes in a violent police state is patently ridiculous.

If you like conspiracy theories, consider this one: Ramaphosa is the victim of a climate of vicious politicking ahead of Mangaung. In recent weeks his name has been proffered as a candidate for the deputy presidency on a list of candidates headed by President Jacob Zuma, making him a political enemy of the likes of Julius Malema.

The same Malema who was represented by none other than Mpofu at his ANC disciplinary hearing.

And who made the final call on expelling Malema? An ANC appeals panel headed by none other than Ramaphosa, of course.

Conspiracy theory or not, the character assassination of Ramaphosa cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.