ON 9 August 2012 rock drill operators at Lonmin’s Marikana mine went on an unprotected strike demanding a minimum monthly wage of R12 500. By the following Wednesday, 16 August, 44 people had been killed. The 10 images images below capture significant moments during the strike
One of the strike leaders Mgcineni Mambush Noki approaches journalists at the koppie in Marikana on 14 August 2012. 
Wednesday 15 August 2012 went by peacefully with workers gathering at the koppie waiting for Lonmin Plc management to come address them. 
On Thursday morning 16 August the workers continued their gathering at the koppie but still Lonmin management never came. 
At around 15h30 police announced they were moving into a tactical phase. Noki walked up to one of the police nyalas parked near the koppie and had a conversation with one of the policemen inside. 
Police put up barbed wire as the workers started moving off the koppie. 
At around 15h53 police opened fire on Noki and his group who were trying to move eastwards. 17 people were killed at this scene. 
Police opened fire on the group of workers who tried to bypass police lines near a cattle kraal on the outskirts of Nkaneng informal settlement. 
Police pursued a crowd of workers who had taken refuge in a rocky outcrop some 500 metres away from the scene of the first shooting. 17 more men are shot and killed here. The Marikana Commission of Inquiry heard the police went on a killing frenazy at this scene out of sight of journalists who were covering the protest. 
The family of Molefi Ntsoele view his body at the Maseru funeral Parlour in Lesotho. Ntsoele was one of the men shot and killed in Marikana. 
Mourners gather at the funeral service for Khanare Elias Monesa in Barweng near Butha Buthe in Lesotho. He was among the 34 men victims of the Marikana massacre.
Marikana strike timeline
9 August – rock drill operators down tools after a series of meeting organised by workers’ strike committees
10 August – violence breaks out in the hostel at Wonderkop as striking workers mobilise their colleagues to join the strike
11 August – as tension grows a group of workers gather on the banks of a stream near a koppie at Wonderkop to undergo rituals supervised by a medicine man. The ritual includes the burning of two sheep, one black and one white, with the ashes rubbed made into incisions made on their bodies
12 August – a group of more than 1 000 workers marches to the offices of the National Union of Mineworkers in Wonderkop. Lonmin security guards Frans Mabelane and Hassan Fundi are killed in a confrontation with the workers. They are stabbed, hacked and set alight. The attackers also cut off Fundi’s tongue.
That same night the striking workers march to K-4 Shaft in a bid to stop operations and force their non-striking colleagues to join them. There they set alight vehicles and kill Thapelo Eric Mabebe – stabbing him multiple times and inflicting a gaping wound that leaves his brains exposed.
On their way from the K4 Shaft – they come across Julius Langa walking to work. They lay into him with spears, pangas, knives and clubs. He bleeds to death on the spot.
13 August – Between 100 and 200 men leave the koppie where they had gathered two days earlier and march to K3 Shaft to stop operations. On their way back they are met by police who instruct them to lay down their weapons. They refuse and proceed towards the koppie. Police fire teargas and stun grenade on the group.
The men stab Warrant Officers Tsietsi Monene and Hendrick Lepaaku. They disarm them and shoot Monene at close range. Moneene dies on the scene. Lepaaku is airlifted to hospital where he is declared dead.
One of the men Semi Jokanisi is shot and killed by police some 20 metres from where Moneene lay dead. Another worker Thembelakhe Mati is found dead at a shack settlement near the scene of the violence. Another worker Phumzile Sokhanyile is found dead with a gunshot wound on the neck some distance away from the shack settlement.
14 August – More police reinforcements are deployed to Marikana. The striking workers continue to gather on the koppie. There they kill their colleague Isaiah Twala after accusing him of being a spy for management. Twala is stabbed 13 times and hacked across the right side of his face. Later someone put the dry skull of a cow on his chest. His body is dumped along a footpath leading to the town of Marikana.
15 August – Workers continue to gather at the koppie. More police reinforcements are brought in. Union leaders arrive to try and convince the strikers to lay down their weapons and disperse. Attempts to broker a deal go on after sunset with no success.
16 August – Union leader Joseph Mathunjwa continues with attempts to convince the workers to leave the koppie as a decision has been taken to kill them. The workers refuse to leave. At around 15h53 police open fire on the workers with automatic rifles. 17 men are killed at the first scene of the shooting. Police pursue the miners who had fled into a rocky area and kill 17 others. In total 34 people are killed on the day.
Be First to Comment