This presentation, by David van Wyk, explains the background to the Marikana massacre in South Africa in 2012. David works with the Bench Mark Foundation which monitors and advocates the effect of the mining industries in Southern Africa. Here he talks about the role of Platinum mining in South Africa. He explains how the methods and practices of the Lonmin mining company – the richest in the world – have created havoc and devastation both in the mines and the communities engaged with mining, and how these led to the confrontations which ended in the tragic shooting of 44 members of the National Union of Mine workers on 16 August 2012. This presentation was given to a colloquium on ‘South Africa’s low-wage economy held near Johannesburg between the 15th and 17th of November 2012, and organized by the journal ‘Amandla’.