Act now to avoid another Marikana

Five years on, the ghosts of Marikana have not been laid to rest. The ceremonies yesterday to honour the 34 miners gunned down by police were a reminder of an incident of the most brutal state violence in democratic South Africa.

There were also 10 others killed before the police massacre, including police officers and nonstrikers.

People living in the area today are reported to be “as poor as ever” and many are angry they have been offered no real cash compensation for the loss of their breadwinners.

Given that it was agents of the government – police officers – who were responsible for the killings, it is understandable why there is bitterness.

Lonmin, the mining company on whose platinum mine property the strike began, has tried to improve conditions and salaries for its lowest-paid workers, but there is still much to be done, not only there but in the rest of the mining industry.

The biggest ghost hovering over Marikana, however, is that of accountability. There was a commission of inquiry and former police commissioner Riah Phiyega was forced out of office.

But, no one has had to pay, either criminally or civilly, for the lives lost that day.

The political head of the police should be called to account, as should all the senior officers involved in deploying the heavily armed officers that day. Many of those officers looked as though they had just stepped out of a Terminator movie – dark sunglasses, flak jackets, assault rifles, holstered pistols and all.

Yet, they were hopelessly untrained when it came to crowd control, as well as on the rules of engagement and when to open fire.

We fear that lack of training has not been tackled by police management or government and that, sooner or later, we will have another Marikana on our hands.