South Africa
South Africa viewed its Constitution as the "best on earth", but that had all changed with the incident, the daily newspaper wrote.
"That's what Marikana means. It has raised this unmitigated crudeness as if to awaken us to the reality of the time bomb that has stopped ticking -- it has exploded.
"All the right noises were made and yet the value of human life, especially that of the African, continues to be meaningless... Indeed the life of an African is expendable."
According to the responsibilities set out in the Constitution, the failure by the government to take "drastic measures" to prevent the loss of lives should have led to its resignation.
"Africans are pitted against each other... They are fighting for a bigger slice of the mineral wealth of the country. In the end the war claims the very poor African -- again."
