18 Jul MARIKANA MASSACRE SURVIVORS STILL WAITING FOR APOLOGY FROM RAMAPHOSA – LAWYERS

President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the 022 Heads of Mission Conference in Tshwane on 7 April 2022. Picture: @PresidencyZA/Twitter

JOHANNESBURG – Survivors of the Marikana Massacre said that they were still awaiting an apology from President Cyril Ramaphosa, 10 years after the killings.

Lawyers representing those who were wounded during the wildcat strike at the Lonmin Mine in Marikana in 2012 said that they were disappointed that the president had not admitted to wrongdoing on his part.

Thirty-four miners were shot dead by police, while 10 others were murdered in the run-up to the shooting.

Ramaphosa was cleared of wrongdoing by the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the mass killings.

Andries Nkome represents 279 mineworkers who were arrested during salary-related protests at Lonmin in 2012 as well as another 53 who were wounded at the time.

He said that it was unjust that no one had been imprisoned for the violence so far: “To this day, there hasn’t been any criminal liability that has been put on anyone. It is very painful to our clients, and the fact that they are poor and unemployed makes it even worse.”

Nkome said that they were working out compensation amounts due to the survivors of the massacre together with the state.

This process commenced on 25 July 2022 and the High Court in Pretoria has set 19 August as the deadline for its completion.

MULTI-FOLD JUSTICE

Asked what justice for Marikana looked like, Nkome said it was multi-fold: “Justice for Marikana; one, should be criminal liability for those involved. Justice for Marikana should be civil liability for those who participated in the massacre, Cyril Ramaphosa, Lonmin as well as the state. Justice for Marikana should be the mine itself taking interests of the mining community at heart and making sure there’s better housing, sanitation, education, roads within Marikana.”

Ten years later and the vision remains unrealised. Nkome, indicated, though, that they could be moving to review the findings of the Farlam Commission in future to widen the net of individuals implicated.

“We hope, as the injured and arrested representatives, to be able to review the findings of the Farlam Commission such that he should not only put blame on the shoulders of the then national police commissioner but he should go further simply because even a police witness, Mr De Rover, came through and said something like Marikana could not have happened without political interference.”

Full article on ewn.co.za