Ntsebeza slams Ramaphosa for ‘political manoeuvring’
‘Pitiable apology’ for Marikana is not enough
Top advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza has slammed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “pitiable attempt” at apologising for his role in the run-up to the Marikana massacre as a “thinly disguised political manoeuvre”.
Ntsebeza, who represented the families of victims of the massacre, told Soweto residents on Saturday that Ramaphosa only intended to apologise because he was eyeing the ANC presidency at the ruling party’s December elective conference.
The former member and spokesman of the Judicial Service Commission – from which he said President Jacob Zuma reshuffled him in March – delivered the second annual Tsietsi Mashinini Memorial Lecture at the Morris Isaacson High School in White City Jabavu, Soweto.
According to Ntsebeza, Ramaphosa had enough time to bring details of the August 15 2012 cabinet meeting to dispel the view that the massacre was sanctioned in the highest office in the land.
“He should have visited all the families of the mineworkers and apologised to each,” Ntsebeza said.
“South Africa has no culture of accountability.”
He said not a single politician resigned in the aftermath of the massacre and even former police minister Nathi Mthethwa was not held accountable.
“None of the police officers involved in the Marikana massacre have been arrested, let alone being charged,” Ntsebeza said.
Ramaphosa’s spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa, however, rejected the suggestion that the apology was mere political expediency. “The apology was borne out of the deep empathy for all the victims of the Marikana tragedy,” he said.
Mamoepa said Ramaphosa’s intervention at the time was aimed at averting further bloodshed, the destruction of life, limb and property.
“In line with his testimony at the Marikana commission of inquiry, at which the learned advocate was present, the deputy president reiterated his apology when asked a question about Marikana during his interaction with students at Rhodes University.”
Last month, Ramaphosa announced that he had been told by Struggle stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to visit Marikana and apologise for the massacre that left 34 mineworkers dead.
Ntsebeza also called on South Africans to campaign for electoral laws to be changed so that the country is saved from the debilitating legacy of slates when electing politicians, which is popular in the ANC. As a result of slates, he said, public representatives in many cases have no relationship with the constituencies they purport to represent.
Ntsebeza was also scathing on the judiciary and its response to the #FeesMustFall protests in the past two years.
He said Durban University of Technology activist Bonginkosi Khanyile was the only student detained without trial. “I am alarmed that there is still a charge like illegal gathering,” said Ntsebeza, in reference to one of the eight charges Khanyile faced.