Johannesburg - Slain Marikana workers did not die in vain, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said on Tuesday.
All 44 people killed during wage-related unrest at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West, last year, would be mourned at a rally on Friday, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told reporters in Johannesburg.
Thirty-four mineworkers were killed on August 16 when police fired on them while trying to disperse them from a hill where they had gathered. Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
Mathunjwa said he had invited the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Senzeni Zokwana to join him in preaching peace in the platinum mining belt.
He said Zokwana had yet to respond to the invitation.
“Peace is an ongoing process... leaders must refrain from uttering statements fuelling violence.”
He condemned the murder on Monday of a woman NUM shop steward in Marikana. She was shot dead on Monday near the Rowland shaft.
“This (killings) must come to an end. The police must arrest those involved in this killing.”
Mathunjwa said the miners and their families wanted full disclosure.
“How can there be any reconciliation without the uncovering of the truth? Up to now we have yet to hear from one police officer directly involved in the shooting. We are yet to hear from Lonmin who successfully sought to cast this labour dispute as criminal action.”
He said the injured and arrested mineworkers were losing hope in the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, probing the violence at Lonmin last August.
“For the 270 survivors that were injured and arrested for public violence and murder the stakes remain high. The state in a clear, callous manner continues to deny them access to justice in relation to the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.”
He said some of the workers committed suicide when they could not deal with their wounds. Two workers were reported to have taken their own lives after the shooting.
Mathunjwa said peace and healing could only be achieved when workers saw justice prevail. He said Amcu was not refusing to sign a peace accord intending to bring peace and stability to the volatile platinum belt.
“We need to consult our members on whether to sign the accord. If they give us a mandate to sign we will do so.”
He said some of the union's concerns were not included in the peace pact.
“Issues such as... that politicians should not have business in the mines are not included.”
Workers' spokesman Loyiso Mtsheketshe said workers wanted Amcu, SA Council of Churches president Bishop Johannes Seoka, lawyer Dali Mpofu, and the Marikana Support Campaign to take control of the commemoration rally. Mpofu represents the miners injured and arrested at Marikana at the Farlam Commission.
“These are the people who came to us at the koppie. Mr Mathunjwa went on his knees begging us to leave the koppie and the Bishop brokered a dialogue between us and Lonmin,” Mtsheketshe said.
The rally was expected to be held at a hill where 34 miners were shot dead and 78 wounded when police fired at them.
Seoka said they wanted the rally to be peaceful and inclusive. He called on the country to observe a moment of silent at 4pm on Friday.
Sapa