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Johannesburg - The living conditions at Nkaneng informal settlement near Lonmin's Marikana mine have not improved a year after mineworkers were shot dead there.
"Our children still play in dusty roads, we do not have water and electricity," Primrose Sonti, chairperson of the Sikhala Sonke Women's Organisation, said ahead of the commemoration rally marking the first anniversary of the Marikana shooting.
The women's organisation was formed in Wonderkop near Marikana after dozens of people died in labour unrest at Lonmin last year. It aimed to unite women to fight for peace and better living conditions in Marikana.
Thirty-four mineworkers were shot dead on August 16 last year when police tried to disperse and disarm them. They had been on a strike demanding a monthly salary of R12 500.
"We still do not have proper houses. We live in shacks a year down after mineworkers were killed for fighting for a better wage to improve their lives."
She said the organisation wanted the widows and orphans of the mineworkers to be taken care of.
"We want a bright future for them. Their children must go to school and they must have proper houses."
Sonti said women also wanted stability and peace to prevail in the community.
Bishop Jo Seoka, president of the SA Council of Churches, said there had been "little progress" in the social development of Marikana.
"We see an improvement in the housing conditions of mineworkers but, also there is an increase in mushrooming of informal settlements."
He said mineworkers opted to live in shacks because the mining companies were not involving them on how best they wanted to be housed.
A commemoration rally marking the first anniversary of the Marikana shooting would be held on Friday in Nkaneng.
The rally is expected to bring together rival unions -- the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers' and Construction Union (Amcu).
Leaders of both unions have been killed in what had been described as a fight for control of the platinum belt.
Amcu has dethroned NUM as the majority union in the platinum mines near Rustenburg in North West.
