As the country prepares to remember that horrific day 10 years ago, the victims' families tell Daily Maverick of their sense of betrayal and justice not served, giving their lingering grief an acute edge.

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Marikana massacre, livestock graze near the koppie where the mine workers were gunned down. Metres away, shacks are huddled together in groups, most of them made from rusted corrugated iron and some surrounded by sewage water.

There are no formal roads but a truck offloading materials is evidence of a project to build one.

Residents and foreigners run a number of informal businesses, from spaza shops to traditional pharmacies. Many people hang around on the streets, and they are reluctant to speak to the media. Some are heard suggesting that their plight is being made a mockery in the run-up to the annual commemoration of the massacre, on 16 August.

The mine owned by Lonmin at the time was sold and acquired by Sibanye-Stillwater in June 2019. The new owners admit they "inherited the legacy of the Marikana massacre".

Victim

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