2. 9 - 11 August 2012 A number of employees from Lonmin Mine go
on strike demanding a wage increase. Employees who turn up for duty
report incidents of intimidation and assault. Two employees are
shot and taken to hospital for treatment. Faction fights occur.
Reports of three more employees, shot in the hostels in separate
incidents, surface.
3. 12 13 August 2012 Five employees are shot and taken to
hospital while others are assaulted. Two mine security officers are
hacked to death by protesters and their vehicles torched. Striking
workers infiltrate production areas, assaulting three on-duty
employees, fatally wounding one and torching six motor vehicles at
the plant.
4. 12 - 13 August 2012 Three dead bodies of mine workers are
found. SAPS members are attacked while escorting the protesters.
Two SAPS members are hacked to death and one critically wounded.
Three protesters are fatally wounded in police response to the
attack.
5. 15 August 2012 Mineral Resources Minister, Susan Shabangu
says she is gravely concerned about the violent protests at
Marikana. Police and striking mineworkers attempt to negotiate a
truce with miners on a hill which had become a gathering point for
the mineworkers near the Lonmin mine.
6. 16 August 2012 Police open fire on miners, leaving 34 dead
and 78 wounded. More than 250 people are arrested. Lonmin says it
has lost six days or 15,000 ounces of platinum at Marikana and is
unlikely to meet its full-year production target of 750,000
ounces.
7. 17 August 2012 National Police Commissioner General Riah
Phiyega confirms that 34 people were killed at Marikana, 78 were
injured and 259 were arrested. President Jacob Zuma leaves the SADC
summit in Mozambique to visit the site of the massacre.
8. 23 August 2012 The Marikana Commission of Inquiry is
appointed by President Jacob Zuma to investigate events arising out
of the tragic incidents at the Lonmin Mine in Marikana. The country
observes a national day of mourning.
9. 30 August 2012 Authorities charge the 270 arrested workers
with the murder of their colleagues shot on 16 August. The charges
are later withdrawn.
10. 18 September 2012 Workers at Marikana secure pay increases
of between 11 and 22%, and agree to end the strike.
11. 1 October 2012 The Marikana Commission of Inquiry opens in
Rustenburg.