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News

Marikana massacre | Calls for justice, reparations continue

todayAugust 16, 2024 91

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Calls for justice and reparations for the families of the miners who were mowed down by the police on this day – 12 years ago – continue to reverberate across the country.

In a joint statement, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (Seri) and Amnesty International South Africa lament the seemingly blunt blade of justice as South Africans commemorate the massacre that shook the country, with some accusing government of applying the apartheid regime’s repressive and brutal tactics against its own people.

“For the past two years, the Office of the Solicitor General has publicised that it has settled about R71m in loss of support to 34 of the families, comprising about 315 family members, between August 2018 and September 2019. What the office does not explain is that of these claimants, about 129 people have received nothing,” reads the statement.

The organisations say although some officials have been charged, no police officer has been brought to book for robbing wives of their husbands and children of their fathers, who died while demanding decent pay and working conditions.

Nine of the officials who face charges over the tragedy have all pleaded not guilty.

SA Amnesty International’s Executive Director, Shenilla Mohamed, says the cases need to be treated with the urgency they deserve.

She describes the lack of accountability for victims and their families as a recurring theme in South Africa.

Seri Executive Director, Nomzamo Zondo, says at the core of the state’s posture in the matter is a denial of the humanity of the victims of the massacre.

“If you translate the position of refusing to compensate anything more than the salaries that the miners would have supported their families with, it is that men like Stelega Gadlela and Mgcineni Noki were machines meant to generate Lonmin’s income – they were not fathers meant to raise their children, or uncles meant to look after their orphaned nieces and nephews, or husbands meant to comfort and support their wives,” she adds.

Forty-four people were killed between the 13 and 16th of August in 2012 during a wage strike by Lonmin mineworkers.

Thirty-four of them were killed and 78 were seriously injured on this day, when the police fired them with over 200 live rounds while they were gathered at a place called koppie, near Lonmin Platinum Mine in Rustenburg, in the North West.

According to Zondo, Seri has represented the families of 36 murdered mineworkers both in their demands for accountability and in their civil suit against the state for compensatory damages.

The deceased miners are said to have been providing support to over 300 dependents.

The human rights lawyer says, in their civil claim, the victims’ families want an apology from government; compensation for loss of support and general damages for emotional shock and psychological damage caused by the trauma they suffered after the massacre, among others.

South Africans are also paying homage to the miners on social media.

Written by: Lindiwe Mabena

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