Mail & Guardian reports that Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) president Joseph Mathunjwa said on Tuesday that the families of those who died when police shot dead 34 striking Lonmin workers in Marikana 10 years ago would not heal until President Cyril Ramaphosa accounted for his role in the massacre.
“Justice for Marikana will only be served if we see Ramaphosa behind bars,” Mathunjwa stated. After a two-year halt of gatherings to mark the anniversary of the 16 August 2012 shooting due to the Covid-19 pandemic, those who survived the shooting as well as union officials and politicians gathered for the 10th commemoration in North West province on Tuesday. Ramaphosa was then SA’s deputy president and a non-executive director of Lonmin. An email he wrote to a company executive at the time referred to the violence which accompanied the protest as “plainly dastardly criminal” and that there must be “concomitant action” to address it. Trade unions argue that Ramaphosa thus incited the police shooting that followed. He, in turn, has maintained that his communication and emails did not constitute actionable incitement or wrongful conduct. In a statement, the government said it was working with Sibanye-Stillwater – which bought Lonmin in 2019 – and other stakeholders to initiate a Marikana renewal plan that would see the revitalising of the mining sector, compensation for families, new schools and housing, a memorial site at the koppie and holding those responsible for the deaths accountable. Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said the Marikana tragedy was a turning point in the history of a democratic SA and should never be repeated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sonri Naidoo at Mail & Guardian (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page