Post date: Aug 16, 2013 5:35:54 PM
Thousands attend a memorial service at the Marikana mine where 34 striking workers were killed a year ago by police.
MARIKANA, RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 16, 2013) (REUTERS) - A year after South Africa's bloodiest post-apartheid labour incident, mineworkers attended a memorial service on Friday (August 16) at the location where striking workers were killed by police.
At Lonmin's Marikana mine 34 striking platinum workers were shot dead by police on August 16, 2012 in killings that shocked South Africa and the world.Several thousand people gathered on and around the so-called "Hill of Horrors" with a relatively light police presence stationed several hundred metres away.
Prayers were offered at the rocky outcrop where the strikers, many carrying clubs and spears, died in hail of police gunfire when officers moved to disperse their protest.
"It's really heartbreaking what the police did here, killing our brothers who wanted decent salaries from the company, it is really sad and worrying, we will never forget that because the wives and children of the men that died here are suffering today and we still haven't heard anything about them," said mine worker Wilmon Snooks.
There were seas of green AMCU T-shirts in the crowd. The event kicked off with a play dramatising the shooting.
Speaking at the memorial the president of the South African Council Of Churches, BishopJohannes Seoka said justice had not been served.
"We can't call for peace where there is no justice, we must never forget brothers and sisters that our fallen comrades did not die to divide us but to unify us as workers, to unify us as citizens, to unite us as a nation, unity is power," he said.
Violence still stalks the mining shafts and communities as sporadic murders of union officials betray a membership turf war being waged between the mainstream National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its hardline challenger, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union(AMCU).
President Jacob Zuma, still facing criticism for his African National Congress (ANC) government's handling of what has come to be known as the "Marikana massacre", has led a solemn chorus of assurances that such bloodshed must never happen again, but a government inquiry set up to establish responsibility for the killings is dragging on with no end in sight.
Zuma and his government face persisting accusations that the political class serves a wealthy corporate class more assiduously than they do the vast majority of struggling South Africans. That fuels the union battle, with the AMCU accusing ANC-allied NUM bosses of being part of the ruling elite.
"I was hoping by this day the truth would have been revealed, but there is no truth, because of our selfish government," said survivor Mzoxolo Magidwana, who was shot 7 times.
The memorial service was attended by politicians, unions and civic leaders and is due to end with a one minute silence to mark the killings.