Amcu chases Dlamini Zuma from Marikana
She and ANCWL members wanted to lay wreaths at koppie
ANC PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was sent packing in Marikana, near Rustenburg, yesterday. Dlamini Zuma was in Marikana to lay wreaths at the infamous koppie where 34 miners were gunned down by police on August 16, 2012 during a violent wage strike at the Lonmin Platinum mine.
More than 30 minibus taxis transported ANC Women’s League members to Marikana where they were met by a group of about 20 Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members who stopped Dlamini Zuma from laying wreaths.
“We are not fighting. We do not want to see what happened here repeat itself. Comrades, get into the taxis, let us leave,” ANCWL deputy president Sisi Ntombela said. Dlamini Zuma was in her car at the time. Amcu members said no arrangements had been made with them to access the koppie.
“Next time you will do things professionally,” one of the Amcu members said, as the terrified women retreated and boarded the taxis.
And members of the media were also not spared.
“Stand that side, you come with the ANC. No, no, stay there. Go with them, leave,” said one man as journalists approached the group for comment.
Last Tuesday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane was also stopped from laying wreaths at the site of the 2012 tragedy.
Thirty-four mineworkers were killed on the day police opened fire, while 10 other people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed the previous week in the violence which
WE ARE NOT FIGHTING, WE DO NOT WANT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED HERE IN 2012 REPEAT ITSELF. COMRADES, GET INTO THE TAXIS, LET’S LEAVE
erupted at the mine.
Dlamini Zuma, one of the ANC presidential hopefuls and former AU Commission chairperson, was in the Bojanala district in North West as part of the provincial ANCWL Women’s Month programme. She visited the traditional leadership of Bapo ba Mogale as well as the Ndlovu family, whose son Tebogo Ndlovu went missing on August 2, after a farmer allegedly shot him for stealing oranges.
His disappearance sparked mass protests that saw the N4, R104 and R566 blocked for a week.
Majakaneng residents were expected to march to the Mooinooi police station