TimesLIVE reports that monitoring NGO Bench Marks Foundation (BMF) said on Monday that nine years after 34 miners were killed at Marikana, little progress has been made in bringing those implicated to book.

Nine police officers are still facing charges related to the shootings. “Progress in these cases has simply ground to a halt. Even if they are eventually finalised, accountability for this massacre needs to stretch much higher up the level of command,” said BMF’s John Capel. The foundation appealed to mining company Sibanye-Stillwater to expand the memorial park it is establishing at Marikana. It wants counselling services for widows and orphans to be extended to the miners who were injured, some of them severely, and those who were traumatised by the massacre. “This will assist in bringing healing, that is long overdue, to the community,” Capel said. He also indicated that the foundation welcomed the commitments made by Sibanye-Stillwater to help communities affected by the Marikana massacre — but warned that it would keep a close watch to ensure the company made measurable and sustainable progress. The range of activities promised by Sibanye-Stillwater include mega-agricultural projects, piped water, and tarred roads in nearby Nkaneng township, where many of Marikana’s miners live. The foundation also welcomed the houses built for widows of the deceased miners. But, it noted that neither Lonmin nor Sibanye-Stillwater had to date paid out any compensation to the widows and orphans of the deceased miners. “Both the state and Sibanye-Stillwater have a moral responsibility to compensate victims,” Capel stated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nomahlubi Sonjica at BusinessLive

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