REMEMBERING THE FALLEN: Marikana massacre 14 years on — Victims’ families still await criminal accountability

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 of that week and were all acquitted.

Livhuwani Mammburu, spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), told Daily Maverick that the victims who were killed in the lead-up to the massacre have not been officially recognised.

“They were workers who were members of the NUM, who were shop stewards and branch leaders of the NUM, who were killed and assassinated before the Marikana tragedy could happen. Their families haven’t found justice and they are not recognised,” he said.

He added that Lonmin (which was bought by Sibanye-Stillwater in 2019) and Impala Platinum, which operates a mine near the Marikana complex, have yet to be held accountable for their role in the massacre.

“The reason why we are saying this as the NUM is that the mining companies, Lonmin and Impala, allowed a non-protective strike to happen and they did not do anything to stop it. Because for them, they were only interested in production. As long as they were getting production, they did not care about the lives of the mine workers who were brutally murdered at that time,” Mammburu told Daily Maverick.

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri) represents 34 of the 36 mineworkers’ families, totalling more than 300 dependents. The institute published a statement on 11 August commemorating the anniversary, stating that justice had yet to be served.

“Thus far, the State has only paid out approximately R352-million, settling some civil claims from injured survivors, unlawfully arrested miners and the families. Of this, 34 of the 36 families Seri represents received about R71-million in loss of support, which is only one of the five prayers in the families’ civil claim.