President Cyril Ramaphosa does not oweMarikanaa visit, and expecting him to go to the area is an “abnormal arrangement”, ANC chairpersonGwede Mantashesays. The ANC is set to hold its 114th anniversaryJanuary 8 celebrationsat Moruleng Stadium in the North West and party leaders have been criss-crossing the province, with many hoping thatRamaphosawould take the opportunity to visit the Marikana area for the first time since the massacre of striking mineworkers in August 2012 which embroiled him. The widows and children of the 34 miners shot dead by police during a strike at the operation then owned by Lonmin have long accused Ramaphosa of playing a role in the killings, as he was a shareholder and a non-executive director at the time.
But in an exclusive interview with theMail & Guardianon Tuesday, Mantashe defended Ramaphosa, saying South Africa’s president at the time wasJacob Zuma, who has not been held accountable for the incident. “To expect Ramaphosa to go to Marikana is an abnormal arrangement. Zuma was the president and there was a minister of police, and nobody talks about that.
Ramaphosa does not owe Marikana a visit; he owes Marikana a visit like everybody else,” he said. “Everybody talks about Ramaphosa being on the board of a company operating in Marikana and communicating with the police out of concern because there were running battles there. That still needs to be put into proper perspective.” The minerworkers, many of them affiliated with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), were demanding a basic monthly wage of about R12 500, which was roughly three times their then pay of around R4 000 – R6 000 per month.
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In total, 44 people died during the strike. Mantashe said that by the time the disaster occurred,AMCUhad already killed 10 people, including two police officers and security personnel, but this fact was often ignored. “Everybody talks about the 34 who were mowed down by the police as if they were dealing with angels.
When that happens, you are creating an environment for conflict. If you want to see how the police become irrational, kill one of them,” he told the M&G. In September last year, Zuma’suMkhonto weSizwe(MK) party won its first ward outside of KwaZulu-Natal, securing 43% of the vote in Photsaneng, Rustenburg — a ward previously held by the ANC that became vacant after the councillor died.
The ward includes Marikana. The ANC received 33% of the vote, down sharply from 44% in the 2021 local government elections. The loss was embarrassing for the ANC and there were fears it could be replicated in other areas, a source in the Bojanala region told M&G at the time.
This week, Mantashe said MK had only taken a single ward and there was no real weight to it. He said North West was usually supportive of the ANC, and noted that it was the third-biggest contributor to the party’s 2024 general election votes. TheANCwas more concerned about the rise of multiple breakaway parties rather than the MK party alone, he added.
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