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- It has been 11 years since the deadly strikes that led to the killing of mineworkers at Marikana in 2012.
- Today, mineworkers say there has been an improvement in their wages and living conditions.
- But the cost remains bitter for those commemorating the tragedy.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
On the iconic koppie of Wonderkop, Marikana in the North West, thousands gathered to commemorate the massacre of striking mineworkers on this day 11 years ago.
While this is a commemoration of the tragic events in which 34 people were shot dead by the police, on Wednesday there appeared to be an air of less despair – even muted celebration – in the faces of the people gathered.
By early afternoon, the crowd had swelled to around 10 000.
The leadership of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), together with some religious and political leaders, will address the crowds to commemorate the events in which workers at platinum miner Lonmin, now part of mining company Sibanye Stillwater, were striking for higher wages.
About 50 other people had died at the hands of both striking workers and other acts of violence in the weeks leading to the 16 August 2012 massacre on the koppie.
Unlike the strikers of August 2012, the people on the koppie in 2023 look happier, well fed, and certainly not thirsty. Still, some of the workers News24 spoke to on Wednesday said the only good change they have seen in their lives are the better wages they have since won.
"On that aspect we are quite happy, we have seen good wage increases in a short space of time," said Zolani Cenga, who has been employed at Sibanye Stillwater for 18 years. Standing on the iconic koppie with four homeboys from Ngutyana village Bizana in the Eastern Cape, Cenga said living conditions in the Nkaneng informal settlement were still the same as before the tragedy.
The strikes at the time had as much to do with living conditions in the mining towns as they had with employment conditions in the mines.
Mineworkers were paid take-home wages of R4 000 to R6 000 at the time. They went on strike to demand wages of R12 500 per month at the entry level. The wages have since risen to take-home pay of more than R16 000 per month for the lowest-paid underground worker.
Seabane Ramatlama, from Berea in Teya-teyaneng, Lesotho, a Sibanye employee based in the gold mines of Carletonville, says the employment conditions are now much better than they were in 2012.
Ramatlama says their working conditions have significantly improved thanks to the sacrifices of those who were striking in Marikana at the time.
Ramatlama started working at East Driefontein mine in what is now Sibanye Stillwater in 1989 and got paid wages of R200 a month. These days he takes home R7 500.
He told News24:
Motlatse Mathiso, from Mefeteng, Lesotho, was at the koppie on the day of the massacre. He escaped with his life by lying on the ground once the police guns started ringing.
"Our lives are now much better, they have definitely changed," said Mathiso.
Asked what he would like to say to his fallen colleagues who paid the ultimate price during the strike, Mathiso said he would thank them for their sacrifices and tell them the struggle has been won on their blood.
"If we were now getting the higher wages without the blood having to be spilt, we would be much happier. No amount of money is worth their blood."
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that around 10 000 people gathered. A previous version referred to 100 000. News24 regrets the error.
