Considerable insight into the problems at Marikana is provided by this letter.  There is an  explanation of why the miners are using Mr Malema who has made his power and ‘noise’ available to them.   Such power is not easily recognised in western thinking that is so quick to dismiss him.

The letter Pay heed to the rituals of Marikana from Nicola Robins, Director of Incite Sustainability, was first published in Business Day and BDlive today.   Read the letter by clicking on the link [free registration required].

If we catch ourselves muttering “Those poor Marikana miners — fooled into following Malema and Sangomas against their better interests …”, we are complicit.

We are complicit to the extent that we have not bothered to explore perspectives other than our own or those we feel comfortable with.

We are complicit in our self-righteous conviction that our cultural superiority is incontestable and somehow proven beyond reasonable doubt.

If the western cultural paradigms that have come to dominate the world represent the pinnacle of human achievement, we should be wondering why social, financial and ecological crises flood the headlines today.

At the risk of offering a simplistic perspective on an infinitely complex issue, here are some pointers for those who felt a slight stab of complicity and who are a reason for hope.

Going to the hill is a profound symbol in African culture.   It means the miners are tired of being regarded as children with no input into decision-making.   It means they are knowingly prepared to risk death to achieve the respect that must be accorded to them and their lineage.

Going to the hill is tied to African experiences of initiation: once this has happened, things can never be the same — even if we choose to pretend otherwise.

Sangomas and magic are not inviolable in the face of metal bullets; this much is known.   By engaging traditional healers in this process, miners are acknowledging a deep rift in our society, one that is not only economic and social, but also ecological and spiritual.

In Africa, where mining began centuries ago, the taking of minerals from the Earth was a sacred act, one mediated by rituals that recognised the need to give back and to bring consciousness to the radical and dangerous nature of the act itself.

As we seek to manage the lack of conscious foresight so evident in acid mine drainage and the social devastation of the migrant labour system, perhaps these sentiments are not so short-sighted after all.

And Julius Malema?   Whether they agree with his politics or not, there is a very good reason that miners are using Mr Malema here.   He has made his power available.   The kind of power Mr Malema has is not easily recognised in western thinking that is so quick to dismiss him (and which is why the African National Congress so badly underestimated his impact).

Mr Malema has duma.   That is the power that arises in “noise”, when one’s name is uttered by many mouths and one’s picture is seen by many eyes.

By tapping into Mr Malema’s duma, which is considerable, miners are simply using one of the few resources available to them.   To assume that opportunism is on Mr Malema’s side only is to vastly underestimate the miners’ ability to engage with power in all its forms.

A deeper understanding of power is something men (and women) learn on the hill: those of us who have not been there would do well to wonder what this means.

In reading the reports, I am horrified at the possibility that Marikana was indeed a massacre.   But it is also a tragedy: a tragedy of healing that will not take place because of our inability to see beyond our comfortable view of the world.