Miners Shot Down

Directed by Rehad Desai

86 minutes / Color
English / English subtitles
Release: 2014
Copyright: 2014

In August 2012, mine workers in one of South Africa's biggest platinum mines began a wildcat strike for better wages. Six days into the strike, the police used live ammunition to brutally suppress it, killing 34 and injuring many more. The police insisted that they shot in self-defense. MINERS SHOT DOWN tells a different story, one that unfolds in real time over seven days, like a ticking time bomb.

The film weaves together the central point of view of three strike leaders, Mambush, Tholakele and Mzoxolo, with compelling police footage, TV archive and interviews with lawyers representing the miners in the ensuing commission of inquiry into the massacre. What emerges is a tragedy that arises out of the deep fault lines in South Africa's nascent democracy, of enduring poverty and a 20-year-old, unfulfilled promise of a better life for all.

film still

A campaigning film, beautifully shot, sensitively told and accompanied by a haunting soundtrack, MINERS SHOT DOWN reveals how far the African National Congress has strayed from its progressive liberationist roots.

"MINERS SHOT DOWN will come to be seen as one of the most important physical remembrances, not only of the lives of the men who were killed, but also of a shameful and cowardly chapter of our recent history."The Daily Maverick

"An unflinching account of the 2012 massacre of 38 South African miners in the town of Marikana."Variety

"While telling a specific story, MINERS SHOT DOWN… delivers a powerful indictment, holding South African President Jacob Zuma and his government responsible for the so-called Marikana Massacre. Recommended!" Video Librarian

"Give[s] voice to the disenfranchised masses. An important historical document and a call to action.”African Studies Review

Other Ways to Watch

Individuals

Available online from:

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $398.00

Available for educational streaming from:

Credits

A film by Rehad Desai

Select Accolades

  • Winner, Panafrican Film and TV Festival (FESPACO) Jury Prize 2015
  • Winner, Cinema for Peace Award for Justice 2015
  • Winner, Best South African Documentary & Amnesty International Human Rights Award, Durban International Film Festival 2014
  • Winner, Special Choice Award, Encounters International Documentary Festival 2014 
  • Winner, Audience Award, African Film Festival Cologne 2014
  • Paris Human Rights Film Festival 2014
  • New York African Film Festival 2014

RELATED TITLES

An in-depth exploration into the recent internal conflicts of the ANC in South Africa, leading to Jacob Zuma's election as president.

Jihan El-Tahri | 2010 | 138 minutes | Color | English

A galvanizing examination of the fight for free college education that burst onto the South African political landscape and quickly escalated into a violent national movement. 

Rehad Desai | 2019 | 85 minutes | Color | English | Closed Captioned

Reveals the struggles of black South African workers to organize unions in the face of a vast entanglement of repressive government policies.

Cliff Bestall and Michael Gavshon | 1981 | 47 minutes | Color

Explores the quest for an HIV vaccine in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rehad Desai | 2023 | 87 minutes | Color | English | Closed Captioned