{"id":112409,"date":"2017-08-16T06:39:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T10:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=112409"},"modified":"2025-03-07T14:07:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T19:07:48","slug":"5-years-after-34-south-african-miners-shot-dead-no-arrests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/16\/5-years-after-34-south-african-miners-shot-dead-no-arrests\/","title":{"rendered":"5 years after 34 South African miners shot dead, no arrests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lonmin<\/a>
Lonmin logo (Wikimedia Commons, Fair Use<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JOHANNESBURG — Five years after South African police shot dead 34 striking mine workers, recalling police brutality under apartheid, rights groups say no one has been prosecuted and miners’ living conditions are as \u201csqualid\u201d as ever.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 16, 2012, police opened fire on workers demanding wage increases and better living conditions at a platinum mine operated by Lonmin Plc in Marikana. At least 70 were injured.<\/p>\n

The shootings shocked South Africa, where mining is a major pillar of the economy.<\/p>\n

Despite the outrage, no prosecutions have been made in connection with the killings, Amnesty\u00a0International\u00a0said in a report released this week to mark the anniversary. That’s despite President Jacob Zuma’s pledge last year that criminal charges would be brought against several senior police officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tragedy of the Marikana killings is compounded by the shocking fact that no one responsible for the bloodshed has yet been held accountable,\u201d Shehnilla Mohamed, executive director of Amnesty\u00a0InternationalSouth Africa, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, rights groups plan to picket outside Lonmin’s headquarters and the South African High Commission, both in London, to commemorate the five-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

While more than 70 police officers were identified by the government’s police watchdog for possible prosecution by the National Prosecuting Authority in May, no action has been taken, Amnesty said.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The prosecuting authority is still evaluating the evidence, the body’s spokesman, Luvuyo Mfaku, told The Associated Press. \u201cOnce the process is finalized a decision whether or not to prosecute any person(s) in respect of the matter will be made.\u201d The police watchdog did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Some Marikana mineworkers and their family members say the wider community’s living conditions have not sufficiently improved since 2012, a prevalent problem in many South African mining towns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter five years, there is nothing happening in Marikana,\u201d said Thumeka Magwangqana, a founder of the Sikhala Sonke Women’s Organization, an activist group.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Magwangqana lives in an informal settlement near the mine with her daughter, a former Lomnin worker, and is featured in the 2017 documentary \u201cStrike A Rock\u201d about the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fighting for good living conditions,\u201d Magwangqana said. \u201cThere are no roads, there is no running water. But 200 metres away from our homes, Lonmin has electricity, water, and tar roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lonmin says it has built more than 7,600 houses for its employees at the Marikana mine, but acknowledges about 11,500 employees may still require housing. It attributes the slow progress to \u201ceconomic conditions and the subsequent collapse of platinum prices,\u201d which the company says have dropped by 50 per cent in the last two years.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the shooting, Lonmin also offered jobs to family members of each mineworker who was killed, and established a trust to help deceased employees and contractors’ children with their education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have accomplished a great deal in a difficult environment and are committed to finishing the job as soon as possible,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cOur employees’ safety and welfare are our first priority.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG — Five years after South African police shot dead 34 striking mine workers, recalling police brutality under apartheid, rights …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":112424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,16,17],"tags":[21359,11661],"class_list":["post-112409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news","category-news-w","tag-marikana","tag-south-africa","mauthors-krista-mahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287617,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112409\/revisions\/287617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}