Marikana: The Struggle for Justice Continues
Eleven years have passed since the massacre of 34 mineworkers on 16 August 2012. The commemoration at Marikana has become a public spectacle rather than an event geared towards achieving justice.
Join our picket at 12pm on 16 August 2023 at Union Buildings, Pretoria
Memorandum to the Honourable President Cyril Ramaphosa,
We have patiently tried many available avenues to address the government and the mining companies, but our humble pleas have fallen on deaf ears. We engaged relevant authorities over many years including through correspondence with the President’s office as well as the mines (Lonmin and now Sibanye), but nothing has changed. We believe that you, President Ramaphosa, are in a strong position to partner with us to address the rising unemployment, poor service delivery and violence. When the then Premier of the North West Province, Thandi Modise, addressed the community at a memorial held in Marikana in August 2012, we were told that Marikana will be renewed for the better. We thought that by now we would be living in a beautiful place and that we would hunger no more. But these were only empty promises. Marikana has become a living hell. Many of us still suffer in shacks without electricity across the road from Sibanye which is booming with profits.
Our demands are:
1.) Prosecution of those responsible for the killings on 16 August 2012. 2.) Reparations for the families of the deceased and to those who lost jobs since 2012. 3.) Urgent and thorough investigations into the ongoing murders of activists in Marikana including Ntombifikile Mthethwa. 4.) A monument below the Koppie must be built in a way that reflects how the community remembers Marikana. 5.) Decent employment and skills development for all. 6.) High quality public infrastructure such as schools, police stations and hospitals must be put in place. 7.) An end to gender-based violence. 8.) A task team of community representatives must be set-up which has the power to determine development priorities in terms of the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and the Social Labour Plan (SLP).
We humbly request a meeting of 20 representatives of the community of Marikana with you at the Union Buildings or in your own home so that we may collectively come up with a way forward.
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