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Growing up in the dusty street of Limpopo , people always get surprised when they find me immersed in the sound of Opera. Yesterday was no ordinary day , sat in my bedroom,closed my eyes and blasted La mamma morta to a full blast .The part where it says "Lo son La Vita" meaning "i am life itself ",the pain in her voice was piercing through my heart and then moment i was about to tear , then a knock on the door .
"Remember Marikana", said my friend while he casually walked away after i opened the door . Then it hits me that its been 5 years since the ANC government killed 34 miners for demanding what the ANC freedom charter promised . Then it hits me more that no one was ever held accountable for the black lives that perished under the hail of bullets that day , and it finally hit home that Marikana miners are still not getting 12500 . Is black live that cheap? I asked myself while i closed the door.
I dont remember Marikana every 5 years or on the 16th of August every year . I live Marikana , the black masses live Marikana , the black youth live Marikana . We are dying to survive ,at home, at work , at higher institutions and everywhere in this country. The black people are wearing the same green blanket Mambush was wearing, there is no difference . The fight for systematic racism , the fight for land , the fight for education , the fight for equality , the fight for mere survival and the fight for exploitation of our labour and theft of African minerals .
After eating noodles for 3 years ,surviving institutional racism in higher institutions, failing oral exams because we speak English in a native accent , then we get subjected to 5000 and my white counterpart armed with Afrikaans and "nou gaan ons braai" t-shirt with grade 11 report gets paid 18500 nett salary . But all these struggles makes me no different from Mambush ,i too, is wearing a green blanket everyday .Five years after the massacre of miners for demanding fair wages from London Mines in South Africa , London Mines in South Africa , the widows are awaiting compensation , no one has been prosecuted and some of the role players might be awarded with Presidency .
I dont remember Mambush , i dont remember Tatane , i dont remember Marikana because i live it .Its my everyday live , its the state of being alive for me and my people. Its been only 5 years since the government failed to be accountable to Marikana , lets not forget its been since 1994 since it failed to be accountable to black people . Marikana will lack justice simply because the victims are poor Africans , nothing shows the lack of political will than having perpetrators in the ruling party contesting for presidency .
Black child remember what Fanon once said "They realiseat last that change does not mean reform ,that change does not mean improvement" . Let us not make the mistake of keeping the ANC in power in 2019 .
