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Marikana Massacre Remembered – Two events in London on Wednesday 16th August 2017 marked the 5th anniversary of the massacre when 34 striking miners were shot dead by South African police at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine.

As well as those killed in what “was the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976” at least 78 miners were injured and around 250 were arrested.

A press statement three days ago from SERI, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa gives more details of the event and the failure of the government to compensate many of those involved and the continued denial of criminal responsibility.

This states that “of the 315 claimants, about 129 people have received nothing, including all eleven family members of the murdered Thobile Mpumza” and accuses the police of attempting to tamper the evidence in the criminal cases. Although there are six officers on trial for an event in which three miners and two police officers were killed three days before the massacre, “No one has been charged for the events of 16 August.”

The mine was in 2012 owned by the UK based Lonmin plc, formery Lonrho plc, which became notorious under the leadership of CEO Tiny Rowlands from 1962 until 1993. It was a company at the heart of the British establishment. Duncan Sands, the son-in-law of Winston Churchill and a minister in several Tory governments, became is chair in 1972, and Sir Angus Ogilvy, the husband of Princess Alexandra was a director until he had to resign after the company’s involvement in breaking the sanctions against Rhodesia was revealed – described by then Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1973 as “an unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism.”

Lonmin was acquired by multinational mining and metals process group with its headquarters in Johannesburg in 2019 Sibanye-Stillwater, making the group the worlds largest producer of platinum and rhodium among its other precious metals and other interests. It is one of the four largest private employers in South Africa.

In August 2017, Lonmin was still in charge, and protesters met outside its London offices in Mayfair for a lunchtime protest.

They held up large photographs of the dead and called for a public apology by Lonmin and the ANC government, particularly Cyril Ramaphosa, in 2012 on the board of Lonmin and now President of South Africa, of as well as the payment of reparations to the dependent of those killed and those injured and arrested, both on the 16th August and at the police killing and injuring of women a month later. Ramaphosa had urged the police to take firm action against the strikers before the masscre.

Among those taking part were Primrose Nokulunga Sonti and Thumeka Magwangqana from the Marikana women’s organisation Sikhala Sonke (We Cry Together) who had come to the UK asking to meet with Lonmin representatives – but were ignored. They tried to take a letter into the offices for Lonmin but were refused entry, eventually giving the letter to the receptionist who promised to deliver it.

In the early evening there was the annual vigil outside the South African High Commission in Trafalgar Square on the anniversary of the massacre, organised by the Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum (PACSF) and Marikana Miners Solidarity Campaign.

People again held the pictures of the murdered miners which also had their names and a brief description. Some had come with yellow flowers and these were handed out to those who had come to take part in the vigil.

Among those who spoke at the event were the two women from Sikhala Sonke who gave a powerful presentation about the effects of the massacre. I had to leave as this ended and before the pictures were taped to the locked gates of the High Commission and people came to lay flowers.

More on My London Diary at Justice for Marikana vigil and Marikana Massacre Protest at Lonmin HQ.

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London Solidarity with Marikana Miners Today, 16th August 2022, from 5pm people will be outside South Africa House to remember the massacre ten years ago of 34 striking miners at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine, a massacre deliberately planned by South African police working for London mining company Lonmin, whose directors at the time included Cyril Ramaphosa, now President of South Africa.

It was an attack that brought back memories of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the 1976 Soweto Uprising, things we had perhaps thought no longer possible after the overthrow of the white apartheid regime. South Africa may have got rid of its crude system of racial injustice but it was a demonstration that there are still huge differences and exploitation based on wealth and privilege – and of the lengths that those who benefit most from these are willing to go to maintain their position. A naked expression of class war.

As usual, Wikipedia gives a detailed account of what took place, although some details are unknown or contested, and my account here largely relies on it. The massacre “was the culmination of a series of violent encounters between the SAPS, Lonmin security, and members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on one side; and strikers on the other.” Various clashes in the five days before it had led to a number of strikers being injured and ten deaths, of “six mine workers, two Lonmin security guards, and two SAPS members.“

It was not a single massacre on 16th August; police opened fire with their assault rifles on two groups of miners around 500 metres apart, killing seventeen at each of these places. Police say they first tried to control the strikers with water cannons, rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas. The miners were largely armed with spears, knives and sticks, but six guns were later found at the site, including one taken from a police officer killed earlier in the week.

Police accounts as in this country are seldom reliable, usually decorated or invented to justify and defend their actions. But there were more independent observers. A Reuters photographer present does confirm that he saw one of the strikers firing a pistol before the police opened fire. The noted South African journalist Greg Marinovich who investigated the scene closely found that some of the miners killed were shot at close range or crushed by police vehicles, but most were targeted and killed from around 300 metres, concluding “It is becoming clear to this reporter that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood.” Other reports say police shot and killed miners who had their hands up in surrender.

270 miners were arrested and charged with ‘public violence’ which was later changed to murder, using the doctrine of “common purpose”. Most of those arrested complained that they were beaten in custody. Eventually after great public outcry the charges were dropped and most of those arrested released.

A commission was set up into the massacre, though many feel it made its inquiries after the authorities had time to cover up and falsify evidence. And although it made recommendations none has been implemented and no prosecutions have followed. You can watch a recent long interview with Rehad Desai, derector of the documentary film ‘Miners Shot Down‘ (Trailer here) from a few days ago on YouTube, Marikana Massacre | A decade later, still no justice.

The first protest in London took place two days later on 18th August 2012, when a small group of people marched from the Lonmin offices at Hyde Park Corner to South Africa House in Trafalgar Square.

There have been protests each year on or close to the anniversary, with vigils outside South Africa House, where security have often come to harass those holding the events. But after the offices there have closed for the day and the security are off-duty people put flowers and pictures of the murdered miners on the gates and walls.

And there are speeches and songs and a silence. Some years those taking part have included guests from the Marikana women’s organisation Sikhala Sonke (We Cry Together), including Primrose Nokulunga Sonti who have joined those from various African and UK organisation members at the vigil.

Tag: Sikhala Sonke

Marikana Massacre Remembered – 2017

London Solidarity with Marikana Miners