Miners who went on strike 10 years ago at Lonmin’s Morrican mine near Rustenburg in the North West say very little has changed to improve their working and living conditions.
Today (August 16) marks the 10th anniversary of the Marikana pogrom.
On this day in 2012, police shot dead 34 miners.
Officers also arrested miner Xalani Nzuzu, accusing him of involvement in the killings.
“They see it as a holiday. But it’s a sad day for me because I’ve lost my friends. Others left their families. Even now [I] there is still a criminal case. I can’t do anything. Even when I try to do something to improve my life, they say I have a criminal record. The accusations don’t make sense, it’s been 10 years,” Nzuza adds.
The video below reports that most of the recommendations of the Farlam Commission were not implemented: SERI
Meanwhile, Thabisile Phumo, Sibanye-Stillwater’s executive vice president of stakeholder relations, acknowledges that more needs to be done to turn things around for the Marikana community.
“You understand that the provision of services is the sphere of activity of the government. However, with our contribution since 2019 to some of the community programs, the clinics, the schools that we’re building in those areas, and some of the roads, you can see that we’re making a break in a very long history of development in that area.
“You would know what problems this municipality is facing. So we’re not saying we’ve arrived, we’re saying the journey has begun,” Fumo explains.
Below is a live stream of today’s meeting:
