Marikana resembles ANC's shameful legacy
Image: Leon Sadiki / Independent Newspapers Archives
SATURDAY marked the 13th anniversary of the Marikana massacre, a commemoration that carries no significance for the ANC and its current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
It's no wonder that South Africans no longer trust the party with the responsibility of leading this country. It cannot own up to the tragedy that befell the miners at the time they were demanding fair pay and improved working conditions, issues upon which the ANC's foundation was built.
This year's commemoration came a day after Ramaphosa addressed the opening of the so-called National Dialogue in Pretoria on Friday.
Among the important questions he said need to be answered is why were the majority of the black population still trapped in abject poverty. One assumes the president knows the answer to this question, but was just playing to the gallery.
Perhaps the families of the slain Marikana miners would have all the answers to that question. Only if he had visited them and apologised for the massacre, as any caring government should have long done.
They would have told him that their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands embarked on strike precisely because of the poverty they were subjected to despite the long hours underground.
They would have also informed him that their children were robbed of their breadwinners by the very state that was supposed to protect them.
They would have painted a picture of struggles they are confronted with to make ends meet in an economy that is characterised by the alarming cost of living.
But these are the answers that Ramaphosa and his current ANC are not prepared for. They are the enablers of these struggles, directly or indirectly. That is why the Marikana massacre has become a taboo topic in the former liberation movement.
Ramaphosa confirmed what many have long believed; that the ANC he leads is so detached from the realities confronting poor South Africans. If it was not, it would not waste millions from the public purse debating issues that all of us are aware of.
Instead, that money could have been spent towards the education of the children of the miners the government killed in Marikana.
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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Chef Neels du Plooy with then-President Thabo Mbeki at a game farm in 1999, where he got a signature from Mbeki and his wife, Zanele. 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Image: Debbie Yazbek "In the late '90s, I was at the opening of the Lesotho Highlands Katse Dam and took the booklet with me, and after the meal, there were a lot of MPs, including Ramaphosa and five or six premiers of the first administration whose signatures I was able to get." That's where he also got the signature of King Letsi III, ruler of the Kingdom of Lesotho. Du Plooy managed to get the signatures of George Bizos, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Kader Asmal, Arthur Chaskalson and Govan Mbeki. Du Plooy, who lives in Sandringham, Johannesburg, was later a chef at a restaurant in the Joburg Civic Centre in Braamfontein, and so he used that opportunity to gather signatures of important people when they came to dine. He believes it is the only booklet in the world that bears the signatures of four state presidents. But there is one signature at the top left of the first page of the booklet which he has not been able to identify. 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