MARIKANA, South Africa –
A somber gathering of some 5,000 people marked the 10th anniversary of what is known as the Marikana massacre, when police opened fire on striking miners, killing 34 in 2012.
“10 years of betrayal,” read the T-shirts worn by many at the commemoration, expressing bitterness that those killed have not received justice and that promises of better wages and conditions for miners have not been fulfilled.
Clustered on top of a small hill near where the shooting took place, the miners sang mournful songs and chants. Many at the event wore green and black, the colors of the Mine Workers Association and Construction Union that led the strike.
A small contingent of police officers supervised the meeting.
“Ten years later, there has been no justice. We all saw miners being killed in broad daylight, but no one has been arrested for it,” miners’ union regional secretary Phuthuma Manyathi told South African broadcaster eNCA earlier. of the meeting.
The Marikana killings were preceded by days of violence in which 10 other people, including police and security guards, were killed.
Videos of police opening fire on miners shocked South Africa and spread around the world, sparking outrage and prompting a commission of inquiry to investigate police actions. Although the official investigation found police responsible for the killings, no one has been charged in the deaths.
The government has paid more than 170 million rand (over 10 million US dollars) in compensation to 280 claimants, mainly the families of miners killed and injured that day or wrongfully arrested, it said in a statement earlier this month. month.
There are still 24 claims to attend by the end of August, according to the government.
A survivor of the shooting, Mzoxolo Magidiwana, 34, said he feels disappointed that living conditions in Marikana have not improved in the decade since the killings.
“I look at this (Aug. 16) as the day I survived death staring at me. Many of the people I was with that day ended their lives in this place,” Magidiwana told The Associated Press.
“To survive nine bullets, I still wonder how God saved me when people were trying to kill me,” said Magidiwana. “It’s a day that I respect so much. Every year I literally get the creeps because I know I wasn’t supposed to be here. I still haven’t seen why God saved me, but I know there’s a reason he forgave me. life”. “
Magidiwana said he is disappointed that, despite the strike, the lives of the miners and their families have not improved.
“Everyone can see that nothing much has changed in this place. People are still living in the same conditions as before,” he said. “Even on the koppie (the hill where the shootings took place) there was supposed to be a monument, an official commemoration similar to others that are made for significant events in this country, but there is nothing.”