Still no justice for Marikana widows and orphans
ALL ROADS will today lead to the koppie near Lonmin’s Marikana mine, the scene of the massacre in which 34 Lonmin mineworkers were gunned down by the police and 78 others were injured in a violent wage strike five years ago.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the biggest union at Lonmin, is expected to lead a commemoration service with mine workers’ widows, children and survivors to reflect on the massacre and delayed justice. Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told eNCA yesterday that Marikana had put the spotlight on the difficult conditions mineworkers worked under and that the 34 mineworkers who were killed by the police were martyrs for the industry.
Mathunjwa said Amcu lawyers were working to pull in the UN to help review the Farlam Commission report which exonerated political leaders, but questioned former police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s fitness to hold office.
“They (the UN) have the power to call countries who do not work according to rules of engagement (to task).
“You cannot kill 34 mineworkers and no-one is responsible, but our members who were arrested and injured were charged with murder and the state is nowhere to be found,” he said.
Mathunjwa was concerned that there had been no prosecutions, charging that the Marikana massacre was a political issue which would expose the figures who had given instructions for the workers to be shot.
His comments come after Amnesty International urged South African authorities to move forward with prosecutions.
“The tragedy of the Marikana killings is compounded by the shocking fact that no-one responsible for the bloodshed has yet been held accountable,” Shenilla Mohamed, the executive director of Amnesty International South Africa, said yesterday.
Crippled Lonmin, the world’s third largest platinum producer which started drilling for platinum in the North West more than 30 years ago, has been crippled since the massacre as the platinum price weakened and input costs rose.
Lonmin along with Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum was also hit by a five-month wage strike that was led by Amcu in 2014.
Mathunjwa said the five-month strike had been a success.
“We had a five-month strike to dismantle the foundation of the structural salary disparity for black mineworkers in South Africa. “That was an achievement. “If you are employed in any of the three mines, no worker will enter the employment with a basic salary of less than R10 000 a month.”
He also said last week that the widows of Marikana victims had made it clear that Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa was not welcomed at the ceremony today, as they blamed him for the killing of their husbands in his capacity as a director at Lonmin.
Earlier this week, Bench Marks Foundation, a non-governmental organisation focused on corporate social responsibility, said this week that little had changed.
It said while Amcu had managed to fight for higher wages, the living conditions for workers and communities around the mind were appalling, with around 30 000 people still living in shacks.
It also said that there had been no genuine apology for the massacre.
‘You cannot kill 34 mineworkers and no-one is responsible… and the state is nowhere to be found.’