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FILE | Police and miners in Marikana
Questions are being asked about authorities’ accountability for the Marikana massacre at the Lonmin platinum mine near Rustenburg, in the North West, 13 years ago.
Preparations have been finalised for the commemoration of the anniversary of one of the darkest chapters in post-apartheid South Africa. Police gunned down 34 miners on August the 16th 2012.
This followed an unprotected strike to demand a R12 500 salary.
Ten other people were killed, scores wounded and arrested. The trade union, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has organised the commemoration.
Deputy President of the union Phuthuma Manyathi says they plan to make the koppie, on which the killings took place, a memorial site.
“The plan is to secure and preserve this area, because if you see the area, because the squatter camp is actually encroaching. Every day, people coming here and we run the risk of not having the koppie at all. One day we’ll come here, there will be no space to commemorate,” says Manyathi.
He says they now want to enclose the area.
“We are at a very advanced stage, where we want to build a memorial site, so that for generations that come, they will know what happened, and it will always be there,” adds Manyathi.
VIDEO | 13th anniversary of the Marikana massacre commemorated
