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Johannesburg - The shootout at Lonmin [JSE:LON] mine in Marikana,
Rustenburg, which left over 30 people dead was a culmination of the blatant
disregard for the lives of African people, The Sowetan wrote in a front-page
editorial on Friday.
South Africa viewed its Constitution as the "best on
earth", but that had all changed with the incident, the daily newspaper
wrote.
"That's what Marikana means. It has raised this
unmitigated crudeness as if to awaken us to the reality of the time bomb that
has stopped ticking - it has exploded."
The editorial comment was headlined "African lives
cheap as ever".
In its editorial The Times newspaper wrote that the scenes
from Marikana mine were "horrifyingly familiar for all the wrong
reasons".
"They seemed to be located in a past South Africa where
stand-offs between police and civilians were ordinary sights..., but this was
no apartheid moment."
The Times wrote that the country's image as a place in which
to conduct business had also been affected.
"The images were transmitted across the world along
with the news that the share price of Lonmin, the company against which the
workers are striking, had slumped to a 2008 low."
The Beeld newspaper wrote that the deaths at the mine were
not just a human tragedy, but would shake the politics and economy of the
country.
Foreign investors would be questioning the country's
political and economic stability.
"As a result of the embattled world economy, platinum mines are engaged in a battle for survival. It requires unusually wise leadership from unions, politicians and mining management to manager workers' expectations."
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