On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in Marikana, South Africa, to commemorate ten years since the worst case of police brutality since the end of apartheid claimed the lives of dozens of striking workers.
When police opened fire on platinum mine workers who had congregated on a hill nearby the mine to demand better pay and accommodation on August 16, 2012, 34 people were murdered and 78 others were injured.
Justice for miners and their families is still a far-off possibility.
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“Ten years has passed now, standing all the time on this hill, asking for answers on who is it that sent the police to come and kill our men, and injured them on this hill, while they were here looking just for money from the employer….that’s just our first question”, said the Families Representative of the Marikana Women’s Group addressing a crowd.
An official investigation determined that police methods were mostly to blame for the deaths.
Senior government officials were also exonerated of any wrongdoing.
Still no one has been charged as of yet.
“This is not an easy thing, it is very hard and it weighs on us. We need to be strong men, in the end the truth will come out, even when we are no longer there, as to who was responsible for the spilling of blood in Marikana, those responsible for making us a laughing stock” denounced Mzoxolo Magidiwana, Marikana shooting survivor.
Many miners wearing union T-shirts participated in the event, along with opposition officials.
“We are living here like pigs as you can see for yourself, there’s no roads here, nothing, there’s no change at all, Sibanye is not looking after us”, complained Leaboa Akgosi, Marikana resident and mine worker.
Authorities claim to still be processing dozens of compensation requests despite having already given the relatives of the victims about 76 million rand ($4.6 million).
The Minerals Council of South Africa, an industry group, stated in a statement that wages in the mining industry had climbed by 86.5 percent since 2012 and that businesses have tried to guarantee that the Marikana events “never happen again.”
