Four years after Marikana massacre, little has changed
Mohlaudi Mohlaudi’s salary may have more than doubled in the four years since 34 of his fellow miners were killed by South African police during a strike in Marikana, but he still lives in squalor.
A small room measuring roughly nine square meters built with thin corrugated metal sheets is home for most of the year for one of the survivors of the Marikana massacre which took place on August 16, 2012.
On that day, workers at the Lonmin-owned Marikana mine northwest of Johannesburg were observing a wildcat strike to demand the minimum wage. In a bid to break the strike, police opened fire, killing 34 miners and wounded dozens more.
It was the worst police violence in South Africa since the end of apartheid 21 years ago.
Mohlaudi’s room doubles up as both a bedroom and a kitchen. He has no toilet, no running water and no electricity.
The salary is now “better, but we don’t have electricity, toilets, housing,” said the 35-year-old rock drill operator.
“Nothing really has changed,” said community activist Chris Molebatse. “When it comes to living conditions, they are really as appalling ... the shacks are mushrooming because the company hasn’t done anything.”
‘Worse than ever’
Opposition lawmaker and Marikana resident Primrose Sonti believes that social conditions for the workers are “worse than ever”, even worse than before the massacre when some residents had water.
“Now, most of the people have no water,” said the lawmaker for the Economic Freedom Fighters group.
“I don’t want to talk about houses ... it’s only shacks.”
In a report released on Monday, a rights group slammed Lonmin, the world’s third largest platinum producer, for failing to build enough decent houses for its workers.
The global watchdog said Lonmin had failed to address the “truly appalling living conditions” for its workers in Marikana since the strike four years ago.
Earlier this month, Lonmin sent a letter to the rights organizationsaying it had budgeted 100 million rands ($7.5 million) a year to build houses for some 13,500 of its workers in need of formal accommodation.
In a statement released ahead of the four-year anniversary of the bloodshed, Lonmin also said it had “made inroads in building relationships and restoring trust (with the workers), but there is still much to do and many legacy issues to address.”
On top of the deplorable living and social conditions, Mohlaudi also worries about job security.
He sits outside his shack, sharing a bottle of beer with a neighbor who lost his job early this year.
Zebedias Xerinda, a 53-yearold migrant worker from Mozambique and father of five, was laid off in January, but is back in Marikana hoping to be rehired.
“Life is very difficult now. I’m just sitting, looking around for a job,” said Xerinda, who believes that mining companies are laying off workers “as a result of the strike” and not due to the need to cut costs.