Thousands of South African platinum mineworkers gathered on Saturday at Marikana to commemorate the second anniversary of the killing of 34 of their colleagues by police during a strike.
The workers were joined by community members on a rocky hill outside a Lonmin PLC mine where the shooting took place.
The hill has become a monument to those who died in the massacre, which was captured on camera and beamed across the world in scenes reminiscent of apartheid-era police killings.
Photo: AFP
The striking workers had been demanding higher wages of up to 12,500 rand (US$1,180) a month.
The commemoration comes only weeks after the end of the longest mining strike in South Africa’s history, which brought the country to the brink of recession.
Several opposition political leaders attended Saturday’s event, which South African President Jacob Zuma described as “a day of reflection.”
Photo: AFP
Mineworkers, some carrying banners reading “Remember the Victims of Marikana” and others wearing T-shirts emblazoned with images of their slain colleagues, arrived in groups, chanting slogans.
“I am here to support the families of the workers who were killed on the koppie [hill],” mineworker Eric Raadt said.
“They were striking for a better life,” he told reporters.
A few white crosses were planted near the hill at the platinum mine north of Johannesburg to commemorate the mass killings, which came at the peak of several days of violence. In total, the unrest is thought to have claimed more than 40 lives.
Family members of the 34 mineworkers shot on on Aug. 16, 2012, held red burning candles and stood up during a roll call of the deceased.
“This tragic day should be marked as a day of reflection and recommitment to peace and tolerance in the country,” Zuma, who did not attend the event, said in a statement.
“We need to recommit ourselves to ensuring that violence is never again used to solve problems of any kind in our country,” the statement said.
For widows like Zameka Nungu, the pain of the massacre is still too much to bear.
“This day brings back memories of that day, when my husband was shot. It is very painful for me,” she said.
A judicial probe known as the Marikana Commission of Inquiry and set up soon after the killings is still under way outside the capital, Pretoria, having heard evidence from some of the country’s top politicians.
Former South African minister of police Nathi Mthethwa and current Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa are among prominent figures who have appeared before the commission.
Ramaphosa, who was a director of Lonmin at the time of the deadly strike, was drawn into the dispute when a senior executive at the mining company urged him to use his “influence” to petition officials who had the “necessary resources at their disposal.”
Retired Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ian Farlam, who serves as the commission’s chairperson, was forced to briefly halt proceedings on Monday last week, as protesters heckled the deputy president, shouting: “Ramaphosa must resign!”
Wage strikes in South Africa’s key mining sector continued this year, with tens of thousands of workers at the world’s top three platinum producers embarking on a five-month stay away.
The stoppages at Anglo America Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin ended with the signing of a pay hike agreement, which would see wages increase to 12,500 rand over three years.
In Marikana, opposition leaders laid the blame for the killings on the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Julius Malema, the former head of the ANC youth wing who now leads the Economic Freedom Fighters advocacy group, promised the poverty-striken community that his party would “teach the ANC government” how to take care of the poor.
“It is more painful for the families this year than the first year,” Malema reportedly said.
No ANC representatives were present at the event and spokesman Zizi Kodwa told the SAPA news agency the government had not been invited.
South African Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi on Wednesday last week admitted that the government had mishandled the strike.
“We could have managed that situation much, much better,” he said at a mining conference last week.
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