马里卡纳血案为南非敲响警钟

South Africans need calm heads to examine what caused the slaughter of 44 workers and police officers at the Marikana mine. The judicial commission of inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma may present the facts. But we have to go past who fired the first bullet. It will take painstaking commitment on all sides to rebuild trust. This is a complex dispute that is a political microcosm of South African society.

南非人需要冷静下来，剖析马里卡纳(Marikana)矿区血案的原因。总共44名工人和警察在这起事件中丧生。南非总统雅各布·祖马(Jacob Zuma)任命的司法调查委员会或许会查明真相。但我们必须停止在谁开的第一枪这样的问题上纠缠。重建信任需要所有相关方面付出艰苦努力。这次的争端十分复杂，它是南非社会现状在政治上的一个缩影。

The critical question is how could this have happened in 2012, 18 years into our democracy and the centenary of the foundation of the African National Congress? The fiasco of Marikana is a sign of failure of leadership on all sides.

关键问题是，在实行民主18年之后、非洲人国民大会(African National Congress)成立100周年的2012年，为何还会发生这种事情？马里卡纳惨案标志着领导层在所有方面的全盘失败。

There is growing ferment in South Africa. The people in our townships, rural areas and squatter camps are bitter democracy has not delivered the fruits that they see a tiny elite enjoying. Many of the leaders they revered have abandoned the townships for the Armani lifestyle previously exclusive to leafy white suburbs. They have long lost touch with the disgruntlement brewing in society. To compound the situation, a new, predatory elite of middlemen is unashamedly corrupting state officials and stealing tenders and licences. They cloak their crime of looting the state treasuries with militant, populist rhetoric that further inflames the already difficult reality. But they strike a chord with the growing underclass.

南非飘荡着越来越浓厚的躁动气氛。在小镇、乡村和棚户区，人们对民主感到不满，因为他们只能看着极少数精英享受民主果实，自己却什么都没有得到。许多他们曾经尊敬的领袖已经抛弃了小镇，过上了奢侈的生活——那种在过去只有住在绿树成荫的近郊住宅区里的白人才能享受的生活。这些领袖早就不接触社会中正在发酵的不满情绪。令情况更加复杂的是，一个新的“掮客精英阶层崛起，他们善于巧取豪夺，并且肆无忌惮地腐蚀着政府官员，以下三滥手段达到中标目的，窃取各类牌照。这些人打着激进的民粹主义旗号，暗地里干着盗国的勾当。他们的煽动性言论令已经十分棘手的现状变得更加糟糕。但这些人的话打动了人数不断增长的社会底层群体。

There is legitimate anger and restlessness at the obscenity of wealth inequality. The poor well understand they are election fodder. As a new apartheid grows, the horrified citizens of South Africa ask the question: “Why are we such a violent society?

财富不平等的丑陋现象确实令人愤怒和焦躁。穷人们很清楚自己在选举中不过是炮灰而已。随着一种新型种族隔离制的兴起，南非民众在震惊之余不禁自问：“我们的社会为何充斥着暴力？

In the absence of strong, legitimate political organisation, communities see violence as the only language leaders will listen to. It is a vicious cycle that sees poor and forgotten people burn down any institution representing the state, whether a school, a library or a public building.

因为缺少强大、合法的政治组织，社会将暴力视为领导人唯一会听从的意见表达方式。这是一种恶性循环，贫穷和被遗忘的群体恨不得烧光一切代表政府的组织，不论是学校、图书馆，还是公共建筑。

The genuine anger out there needs a genuine political solution.

真实的怒火，需要拿出真格的政治解决方案来平息。

A militarised, over-armed and poorly trained police force is mobilised as the battering ram of political enforcement. But a narrow law and order approach will not work in this depressing context.

南非警方有军事化倾向，武器装备绰绰有余，但训练不足。南非政府就利用警方力量推行政令，但在当前这种紧张的气氛中，狭隘的治安手段是行不通的。

The growth of the platinum belt in North West Province, where Marikana is located, created an opportunity to develop the new, non-racial towns of the future. Instead, we see the mushrooming of informal settlements, racial divisions and the spatial planning of South Africa’s apartheid past.

马里卡纳所属的南非西北省(North West Province)铂矿区的发展，为建设新型、不分种族的未来城镇提供了契机。然而，我们在现实中看到的却是：不正规住宅如雨后春笋般冒出来，各类种族隔离做法，以及南非实行种族隔离制度时期的那种空间规划。

As job seekers flooded in from all over the country, the competition over scarce resources was inevitable. We ignored the festering discontent in the bosom of our economy.

随着全国各地的人涌入铂矿区找工作，人们对有限资源的争夺是不可避免的。而我们对南非经济领域中不断滋长的不满情绪视而不见。

Lonmin appears to have been woefully oblivious to the conditions its workers lived under. It is a reminder to corporate leaders that social stability must be part of the business agenda. It cannot be written off as a responsibility of local government and political leaders.

可悲的是，Lonmin公司似乎对其工人的生存条件毫不在意。这提醒企业领袖们，必须把社会稳定问题纳入企业议程，而不能袖手旁观，认为那都是地方政府和政要们的责任。

Marikana is a wake up call that leaders in the unions, politics and business should heed. The platinum mines yield a precious metal while many of their workers live in informal settlements with minimal services.

马里卡纳事件应该令工会、政界和商界的领袖们警醒。这里的矿场出产的铂是一种贵金属，可许多矿工却住在简陋的临时房里。

Today 15m South Africans are only saved from starvation by the social grants they receive every month. In the context of vast structural unemployment the average worker supports up to eight people on a take-home minimum wage. According to labour force survey figures, 50 per cent of all workers earn less than R3,000 a month ($350). Many of these workers are the sole income earners in their households.

如今，有1500万南非人靠每个月领取救济金才免于挨饿。在结构性失业问题严重的背景下，普通工人靠着一份最低标准的工资最多要养活八个人。劳动力市场调查数字显示，50%的工人月收入低于3000兰特（合350美元）。这50%的工人中，许多都是全家唯一挣钱的那个人。

The South African people are exhausted by the excuses given by our leaders. They want solutions and not more task teams, policy statements and conferences. They want action that improves day-to-day lives, that delivers water and textbooks to schools, and medicines to our clinics.

南非民众已经受够了南非领袖们的各式借口。他们希望领袖们拿出解决问题的方案，而不是成立更多工作组、发布更多政策声明、召开更多会议。他们希望领袖们拿出行动来改善自己的日常生活，让居民有水用，让孩子在学校里有课本用，让诊所里的病人有药治玻

The majority of South Africans believe we have the opportunity to build a model of social inclusion and development. The lessons from Marikana should lead us towards the tough choices that place the interests of people at the forefront.

南非大多数民众相信，我们有可能创建一种社会融入与发展模式。马里卡纳事件带来的教训应促使我们迎难而上，选择将民众利益放在第一位的发展道路。

Taking the entire country back to work and the road to successful democracy after a catastrophe such as Marikana is the ultimate test for any political leadership.

在发生像马里卡纳事件这样的灾难之后，要让整个国家恢复正常运转，带领国家走上成功的民主之路，这对任何政治领导层都是一个终极考验。

The writer was the founding general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and a cabinet minister under Nelson Mandela

本文作者是南非工会联合会(Congress of South African Trade Unions)第一任总书记，在纳尔逊·曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)执政时期曾任内阁部长