Law experts, union representatives and community members have slammed government for doing little for the victims of Marikana six years after the massacre.
Thirty four mine workers were brutally gunned down by South African police in what became known as the Marikana massacre.
Speaking at the Marikana Memorial lecture a day before the anniversary of Marikana killings, Western Cape Judge president John Hlope says August 16th should be declared a public holiday because it was a massacre and an incident that South Africans should never forget.
Hlope says the massacre of mineworkers on the 16th of August at Marikana should be given the same status as other historical massacres and declared a public holiday
“So two massacre’s the one in 1960 it has acquired the status of a public holiday here in South Africa known as human rights day, the 1976 known as the youth day it has again acquired the status of a public holiday. Inevitably the question that arises is, why not Marikana. The difference between the two massacres is obvious; in 1960 it was the African people who were brutally murdered by the racist’s regime. The Marikana massacre the facts which are very clear to us this was no more than a normal wage dispute.”
Hlope says Marikana violated every single human right in the constitution. From right of freedom, right to life and dignity and the right to freedom of expression.
“The word massacre is the killing of many people. We have killed many people and we must not refrain from calling a spade a spade, people were killed they were defenseless. It was allowed to escalate and was allowed to intensify to the point where people were killed and therefore it is a massacre call it whatever you want call it (it happened under the nose of our democratically elected government.”
Advocate Dali Mpofu says he will continue to demand for justice.
“You can imagine a child that was born on the 1th of August in 2012 is now six-years-old and yet there is still no justice after that six years and yet we have not seen anything being done. In fact some of the perpetrators have actually been rewarded. That is what will actually heal the wounds its finding out the truth and those people who are responsible to apologise. So that’s what we are dealing with and these commemorations are important to us because we need to heal.”
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) says government has not yet taken full responsibility for the killings and those responsible have yet to be brought to book.
Union leaders and widows of those killed are angry with government and Lonmin because no one has been charged for the murders.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa says: “And what do we call this and I said this is a massacre and the media didn’t want to say this is massacre because they know once you call it a massacre you need to account. It’s a crime against humanity.”
The Marikana lecture was organised by Amcu and attended by Marikana widows, union representatives and mineworkers.
Amcu says no amount of money will bring back the victims but they want to find the truth, those responsible for the massacre to be brought to book.
WATCH RELATED VIDEO BELOW:
