White cops killing blacks in apartheid era. The last 20 years, South Africa blacks began managing, and now shoots black cops black mine workers.

More than 500 miners have marched on a South African platinum mine, waving sticks and pictures of 34 colleagues shot dead by police.

Police helicopters have been flying overhead and officers in armoured vehicles watched as the protesters made their way from the illegal shantytown where they live to the Lonmin mine in Marikana.

“The police have formed a barricade across the road to prevent them from getting any further.

“The miners want to go to the entrance of the mine and to try and persuade the 6% of the workers who are still working to join the strike.

“The police had been unable to stop them. The police held their hands up and said, ‘Stop, stop’, but they marched straight past them.”

The miners walked out on August 10 calling for higher wages, but the protest turned into violence on August 16 when 34 miners were gunned down during a confrontation with police.

Incidents reminded us all of the period of Apartheid

One man at the front of the latest march waved a placard reading, “We want 12,500 or nothing else” – a reference to the group’s demand for a rise in base pay to 12,500 rand (£946) a month, more than double their current salary.

Lonmin, the world’s third biggest platinum producer, says the workers already earn around 10,000 rand (£749) when bonuses and other compensation payments are included.

Talks between the London-based company’s management, unions and the government have failed to get the miners back to work and the chances of success appear slim when they resume.

Marikana accounts for the vast majority of the platinum output of Lonmin, which itself accounts for 12% of global supply of the precious metal used in jewellery and vehicle catalytic converters.

World platinum prices have risen more than 10% and Lonmin’s Johannesburg and London-listed shares have lost more than 15% since the August 16 shooting.

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