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The Marikana legacy

EXACTLY a year after 44 people were killed at Marikana in the North West, “Remembering Marikana” has been resounding all over South Africa in the past few weeks.

This week the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the union slain mineworkers belonged to, said they did not die in vain.

Fourty-four people who died during the wage strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana would be mourned at a gathering on Friday, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said in Johannesburg.

Thirty-four workers were shot dead on August 16 last year. This was after police opened fire in an effort to break up the crowd from a hill where they had gathered.

Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were shot in the week preceding that incident.

Now, beyond just being remembered, many South Africans see the incident as leaving an indelible mark in the country’s psyche.

However, more critical than revisiting the events of that windy and dusty day last August is the legacy the incident has left behind.

The event which became headline news the world over has showed up South Africans' unbearably short memories, it seems.

People have forgotten the causes of the massacre, which included the starvation wages mineworkers were paid every month at the time.

Though salaries were later increased at Marikana, other mining companies are still paying these wages and refusing to budge. Just look at the salary talks between unions and gold miners, which stalled this week.

A year after Marikana, it seems some South Africans have also overlooked what our young democracy was set up to achieve nearly 20 years ago.

Just to remind them, the new government set out to achieve a non-exploitative working environment and non-violent future for all South Africans.

Exploitation of workers still continues and police violence is still there, but not to the extent of the Marikana massacre.

South Africans, 12 months after the shocking incident, have also forgotten what our good and tested constitution states in its preamble.

The constitution says one of its roles is to improve the quality of life of all the country’s citizens.

But if truth be told, this is not happening. Just consider the widening gap between the poor and the wealthy in this country, particularly in the mining sector.

I personally feel it is about time that we recalled the exact cost of Marikana, which far surpassed the 44 lives lost so cruelly.

As soon as the dust settled over Marikana, all the people whose lives have been devastated by the country’s decision to solve its problems by violence were forgotten.

The policemen and -women who went back home with terrible pictures in their minds after pulling the trigger at Marikana have also been forgotten.

I personally saw footage of distraught policemen immediately after 34 people were gunned down in Marikana on that fateful day. Where are they? What happened to them?

It is time to recall that there are additional, superior, more efficient non-violent ways to counter any form of skirmish.

It is also time to recall that the choice about the society we really want to build remains ours.

 - Fin24

*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.

 
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