Oh the irony. In 1982, Cyril Ramaphosa, presided over the establishment of one of South Africa's largest trade unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Exactly thirty years later, Ramaphosa, in his capacity as board member of Lonmin PLC, presided over the worst state violence against civilians since apartheid, many of whom were NUM members, when police shot and killed 34 miners during the wildcat strike at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine. Ramaphosa, currently the deputy president of South Africa, has a long history as a firebrand trade unionist, skilled negotiator and senior member of SA's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). He was a key figure in South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994. So how did Ramaphosa turn into a millionaire businessman with substantial assets allegedly stashed in tax havens? Ramaphosa is accused of having sold out the Marikana miners, and while he has been cleared of criminal liability by the Farlam Commission, some of his most ardent critics - such as the Economic Freedom Fighters' Dali Mpofu, who named him 'accused number one' in the "toxic collusion" between police, Lonmin and the State - insist Ramaphosa is ultimately responsible for their deaths. With Jacob Zuma increasingly an [...]
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