SOUTH AFRICA COMMEMORATES MARIKANA TRAGEDY THAT LEFT 44 DEATHS

By Badefile Moerane SABC

As South Africans commemorates the Marikana tragedy, the country’s opposition leader, Julius Malema, has urged his countrymen not to forget the violent massacre engineered by the ruling party, African National Congress (ANC).

The Marikana massacre which took place on 16 August 2012, was the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since 1976.

The shootings have been described as a massacre in the South African media and have been compared to the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. The incident took place on the 25-year anniversary of a nationwide South African miners' strike.

“We must never forget about the violent massacre of 34 black Mine-workers by the government of the ANC which took place on the 16 August 2012. Ours is to remember against forgetting.” – Malema said in a tweeter today.

Thirty four mine workers were shot and killed by police during a protracted wage strike on August 16 at the then Lonmin operations, now owned by Sibanye-Stillwater with others dead from bullet injuries.

The South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who is in a state visit to Tanzania said that Marikana tragedy stands out as the darkest moment in the life of South Africa’s young democracy and that his government cannot allow such a tragedy to happen again.

“The Marikana tragedy stands out as the darkest moment in the life of our young democracy. Today we remember our 44 compatriots who lost their lives in Marikana seven years ago this week. Never again can we allow such a tragedy to befall our nation”. He said in a tweet.

As thousands of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) members commemorate the tragedy, others say those who were killed did not die in vain.

Some say the wage demands of Rand 12,500 then, have to a larger extent addressed some of their challenges.

President of the dominant union, AMCU, Joseph Mathunjwa says, “One can say without any hesitation that since AMCU came in the mining industry, in particular in platinum, you can see the lives of the member or the workers in general has changed.”

“These workers are able to build their own houses, if you go to different corners of the country you could see the progress and the change of lifestyle.”

Meanwhile, a new application has been launched to have the findings of the Farlam Commission into the Marikana Massacre overturned.

Lawyers for the families of slain workers argue that the commission exonerated politicians, ministers as well as union leaders and Lonmin executives who may have played a role in the deployment and shooting of workers by police in August 2012.

The killings took place at two locations, roughly 500 metres away from each other, with 17 people fatally wounded at each of these locations. The vast majority of those killed were killed by fire from the R5 assault rifle used by the South African Police Service (SAPS). The official figure for strikers injured during the shooting is 78.

The strike was considered a seminal event in modern South African history, and was followed by similar strikes at other mines across South Africa, events which collectively made 2012 the most protest-filled year in the country since the end of apartheid.

The Marikana massacre started as a wildcat strike at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa in 2012.

The event garnered international attention following a series of violent incidents between the South African Police Service, Lonmin security and members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on the one side and strikers themselves on the other.