More than a decade after 34 mineworkers were gunned down by police, their families are still fighting for justice and trade unions for better working conditions.
Fourteen years after the Marikana Massacre, survivors, victims' families and trade unions are still calling for accountability. The massacre resulted in a total of 40 deaths and 78 injuries, with mineworkers accounting for the vast majority of casualties.
On 16 August 2012, 34 miners participating in a wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana, near Rustenberg, to demand pay of R12,500 a month up from R4,000 a month, were gunned down by the South African Police Services (SAPS) at two separate killing sites. The SAPS had been ordered to disperse the miners following escalating violence throughout the week that had already claimed 10 lives, including security personnel and other strikers. The incident has since been referred to as the most lethal use of force by police since the 1976 Student Uprising.
Yet to date, no one has been held criminally liable for what happened. The Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the massacre absolved key political figures implicated, including current president Cyril Ramaphosa and the late former minister of police Nathi Mthethwa, but recommended that the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) investigate and prosecute those involved in the massacre. Nine police officers were charged in connection to the events...
