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Green blanket will serve as symbol for memorial project undertaken by mining company Lonmin.
The green blanket that one of the prominent striking mine workers wore shortly before the Marikana massacre five years ago will be immortalised by mining company Lonmin through a planned themed memorial park at Marikana.
The plans were revealed by the company during a memorial ceremony this week at the company’s private lodge attended by some of the deceased mine workers’ families and other stakeholders.
The four-phase plan, which will include a park and soccer field, museum, restaurant and the Green Blanket Memorial Park, has not yet been valuated. According to Lonmin CEO Ben Magara, there is still a lot of planning to be done before the estimated cost is established.
A prominent picture of one of the mine workers – Mgcineni Noki, popularly known as Mambush – wearing a green blanket during the disastrous strike became a worldwide symbol of the massacre that followed, in which he also perished.
“The memorial project is still in its infancy, and the company will consult with employees and stakeholders on the proposed design that is developed around the concept of a green blanket, emblematic of the garment worn by the late strike leader Mgcineni Noki.
“This green space, planted with indigenous trees, will serve as a place for social gatherings,” the company said.
Magara said the green blanket had become an important symbol of peace.
The event, which started off on a sombre tone with the lighting of 44 candles that bore the names of the lives that were lost, was punctuated by an emotional Magara, who struggled to fight back tears before delivering his brief address.
Magara said he had personally visited all the 44 families affected and the company had spent R10 million on an education trust fund for the children of the deceased.
He also unveiled the company’s R500 million, five-year residential accommodation development programme, which has already started, with some flats already occupied.
Magara, who joined the company almost a year after the tragedy, said the housing development was among one of the priorities the board had wanted.
“The board was clear that, irrespective of economic conditions, we are going to spend that money because we needed to show progress, we needed to show that we have ... seen the need for decent accommodation.”
Magara said that improved accommodation would lead to improved wellbeing of employees and, ultimately, benefit productivity at the mine.
The company also phased out single-sex hostels and incorporated family units throughout the developments, which are being constructed in three locations.
The company has 26 000 workers, with 21 000 of them in lower-graded jobs, while a further 7 000 contractors are employed.
One of the main bones of contention prior the massacre was wages and, at the time, mine workers demanded a minimum salary of R12 500 per month.
Magara said the company had progressed in wage increment, but has not yet reached that demand five years later.
“No employee of Lonmin goes underground for less than R10 000 [per month] and the gross [package] ... today is about R15 000 and R17 000. By the time the current wage agreement ends in July next year, the lowest-earning employee will be getting a basic salary of R12 300, but a gross package of about R17 500,” Magara said.
Lonmin recently became Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union territory after the union managed to get minority unions – including its fierce rival, the National Union of Mineworkers – derecognised, stripping them of organising rights.
The rivalry of the two unions was also at the centre of the tensions that led to the 34 mine workers being gunned down by the police five years ago.
