Johannesburg - Calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to be held accountable for the Marikana massacre have once again gained traction as the victims’ families search for closure and compensation.
The calls come on the 10th anniversary of the massacre with no one having been arrested or prosecuted for the events of that fateful day.
Remembering the day, Mzoxolo Magidiwana, who was shot nine times by the police, said the events of August 2012 should not be forgotten.
“Even when we are no longer here, the guilty ones who caused blood to spill in Marikana should be prosecuted.
“They brutally injured us and turned us into a laughing stock.
“As one of the people who were prosecuted, we want others like Ramaphosa to be prosecuted too,” he said.
Magidiwana was among the mineworkers who were either injured or arrested during the massacre and have filed a lawsuit claiming more than R1 billion from Ramaphosa, his administration and Sibanye-Stillwater, which bought Lonmin.
“We won’t stop calling for Ramaphosa’s prosecution. Our lives are not worth any amount of money. Money is not more important than the truth. We will only find justice once he (Ramaphosa) is in jail,” he said.
At least 34 Lonmin mineworkers were mowed down by police who fired live ammunition at them at the Koppie. In the days leading up to the massacre on August 16, 2012, 10 mineworkers, security guards and police officers were also killed, allegedly by protesting miners.
Magidiwana added that he would not be at peace until former president Jacob Zuma becomes a state witness because he was the head of state at the time of the killings.
“It’s clear that he was in on the decision to use force against the mineworkers. Both of them must come clean including former national police commissioner Riah Phiyega,” he said.
Magidiwana said the surviving victims’ main aim was to ensure that what happened to them never happens again.
“This is painful, it opens up old wounds. But as painful as it is when I look at myself and the injuries I suffered I tell myself that, ‘it’s okay Lord’, my blood that was spilt on that day has paved the way to better working conditions,” he said, adding that Ramaphosa has shown that he has no leadership in his heart.
Widow Nosihle Ngweyi, whose husband Michael Ngweyi was among the mineworkers killed by police, is still demanding answers from the government.
“All we want is answers on who sent the police to come and kill our husbands and maim others when all they wanted was more money from their employer. We are still waiting for Ramaphosa,” she said.
Ngweyi said Ramaphosa could not be scared of visiting Marikana.
“He wasn’t scared to unleash the might of the state – ambulances, hearses and other things. He can’t be scared now. We have many questions to ask Ramaphosa and we want him to look us in our faces. He can’t be silent for all these years,” she insisted.
Ngweyi said it was as if they were begging Ramaphosa to apologise, which she believes should have long been done.
“What makes him unable to visit Marikana? We want everyone who had a hand in the Marikana massacre to be prosecuted. They must be handcuffed and thrown into jail,” she said.
Ngweyi felt that if Ramaphosa had a conscience, the site of the massacre would be in a better state.
“Cows are roaming here, it’s filthy. There is nothing that shows that lives were lost here. We would like this place to be respected, have a memorial and be fenced. A place that shows that some tragedy happened here. To show that people died, they were important to their families.”
Joel Lehupa, whose brother Jackson was killed by the police, said for a decade the families have been crying out loud for compensation.
“The state must take responsibility for deploying the police to kill mineworkers. There has not been healing because no one has taken responsibility or was held responsible and thus accountable. The families are still demanding that the president must account and address them, which he promised to do publicly,” he said.
Lehupa added that the mineworkers’ families were unanimously still asking Ramaphosa to come and they believe there will be healing that takes place if he does so.
“We are asking for accountability on the side of the state and for justice to be served,” he said.