Dlamini-Zuma gets chased away from Marikana koppie – report

ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been reportedly chased away from the infamous Marikana koppie near Rustenburg, North West, where 34 striking miners were shot dead by members of the SA police service (SAPS) in August 2012.

According to City Press reporter Hlengiwe Nhlabathi, Dlamini-Zuma was in the province on the campaign trail on Tuesday afternoon accompanied by the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) when a group of men – clad in T-shirts from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) – chased her away and her entourage.

Nhlabathi tweeted that the men gestured with their hands for Dlamini-Zuma and the fleet of taxis carrying her supporters to leave the koppie.

Her convoy apparently left the area after ANCWL deputy president Sisi Ntombela appealed for calm, saying they did not come to the koppie to fight.

“We are not fighting. We do not want to see what happened here to repeat itself. Comrades, get into taxis, let us leave,” Ntombela said.

At the time Dlamini-Zuma was inside her car.

Amcu members said no arrangements had been made with them to access the koppie.

“Next time you will do things professionally,” one of the Amcu members said, as terrified women retreated and got into the taxis.

Members of the media were also not spared.

“Stand that side, you come with the ANC. No, no, stay there. Go with them, leave,” said one man as journalists approached the group for comment.

Last week Tuesday, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane was also stopped from laying wreaths at the site of the 2012 tragedy.

Thirty four mineworkers were killed on August 16, 2012, when the police opened fire, while ten other people, including two policemen and two Lonmim security guards, were killed a week earlier in wage-related violence which erupted at the mine.

Dlamini-Zuma, who is one of the ANC presidential hopefuls and a former African Union Commission chairperson, was in the Bojanala district of the North West as part of the provincial ANCWL women’s month programme.

She visited the tradional leadership of Bapo Ba Mogale, as well as the Ndlovu family, whose son Tebogo Ndlovu went missing on August 2, after a farmer allegedly shot him for stealing oranges.

His disappearance sparked mass protest that saw the N4, R104 and R566 roads blocked for a week.

Majakaneng residents were expected to march to the Mooinooi police station on Wednesday.

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