Forty-four white crosses representing the 44 people killed in Marikana 10 years ago this week are seen at the base of Tienie Pritchard's statue of George Harrison: "The Miner", 11 August 2022, at Settlers Park, Eastgate. The crosses were installed by the Marikana Support Campaign. Picture: Michel Bega
The Marikana miners who witnessed the brutal killing of 34 colleagues in Marikana during a wage strike were emotional as they commemorated the 10th anniversary of the massacre.
They say the families of those who lost their lives continue to languish in poverty. This is evident as one makes their way to the North West town of Wonderkop, on what is known as the Platinum belt of South Africa.
One of the miners who was there on 16 August, 2012, Sivuyile Bongela, said the miners continued to work under the same conditions as they were subjected to 10 years ago.
Bongela said the place where they died has not even been secured.
“The place is still the same way it was when our brothers lost their lives. It doesn’t even show that something significant happened here. “We had hoped that this place would have been made a respected place, they would have secured it and made it clean, but it is still the same as it was on that day. “We also wanted the names of those who lost their lives to been written all over this mountain in their remembrance.”
He said some of the wives and families of those who died continued to struggle.
“Some of them do not work. If it was up to me, the women who lost their husbands should be given the money their husbands were earning.”
NOW READ: ‘We have no government’: Nothing has changed since Marikana massacre, says miner
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