Marikana massacre eff

Lonmin employees gathered on a hill called Wonderkop at Marikana, outside Rustenburg in the North West Province of South Africa, 15 August 2012. The miners were calling for the minimum wage to be lifted from R4 000 a month to R12 500. Photo: Greg Marinovich

Marikana Massacre: EFF lament failure to punish those responsible

The EFF saluted the 34 miners who died at Marikana in 2012, saying that their struggle played a critical role in the party’s formation.

Marikana massacre eff

Lonmin employees gathered on a hill called Wonderkop at Marikana, outside Rustenburg in the North West Province of South Africa, 15 August 2012. The miners were calling for the minimum wage to be lifted from R4 000 a month to R12 500. Photo: Greg Marinovich

On the ninth anniversary of the horrific events that took place in Marikana, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have reiterated their long-standing demand for those responsible for the death of 44 people – including 34 miners – to be held to account. 

The EFF saluted those that stood on the hills surrounding the Lonmin mine on 16 August 2012, saying that the EFF was formed as a result of the miners standing against their employers and demanding a wage increase. 

‘There is still no justice’ 

In a statement issued on Monday, the EFF said that they remain concerned that despite commissions of inquiry having been established to root out those responsible for the Marikana Massacre having taken place, no one has been arrested or held to account. 

“Nine years later, there is still no justice,” they said, with the party unequivocal in their belief that members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) should were to blame for firing live ammunition at “defenceless workers”.

“The fact not a single person has been held accountable for Marikana murder is evidence enough that there is no justice in South Africa and if there is justice, such justice is selective and seek to protect the interests of the rich and powerful,” they said. 

Farlam Commission into Marikana ‘was a farce’  

EFF leader Julius Malema opened a criminal case against the police and now-President Cyril Ramaphosa – a former union leader who was on the board of Lonmin mine when the massacre took place – in 2012. They accused Ramaphosa of “complicity to murder workers in Marikana in 2012”, and said that “there is still no progress, and no update on what the South African Police Service has done about this case”.

The EFF said that the Commission of Inquiry into Marikana massacre was a “farce”, and said that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would better serve the families of those who died by issuing a certificate of non-prosecution having failed to arrest anyone involved, adding that the EFF themselves “will explore the possibility of private prosecutions and are convinced that we will find justice”.

EFF demand reform on tax avoidance by mining industry 

The EFF said that they remain committed to providing help to the families of the miners who were killed, noting the establishment of a R1 million fund that seeks to look after the widows of Marikana, but bemoaned the absence of support offered by government.

“We demand that there should be reparations for all the mineworkers who killed in Marikana, and their families and children should be taken care of because if the ANC government had not killed the children, husbands and fathers of different families, they would still be here today looking after their families,” they said.

The opposition party also called for the “curtailing of base erosion and tax avoidance practices by huge multinational corporations, particularly in the mining sector”, charging that Lonmin Mine shifted “billions of Rands to Bermuda”, during the period in which miners were denied a living wage of R12 500. 

“We have in Parliament tabled legislation to deal decisively with tax avoidance practices by all multinational corporations, yet the ruling party is folding its arms and doing everything in its power to stifle and frustrate the processing of this bill,” they said.