Deputy Speaker, Deputy President, hon members, yesterday I joined political leaders and representatives of other parties who visited Marikana to get a first-hand account from striking workers, members of the community, union bosses, the police and the Lonmin management of what really happened on Thursday last week, when 34 striking miners were killed by the police with semiautomatic rifles.
Before I give an account of what we saw and heard, I want to start by expressing, on behalf of the ACDP, our heartfelt condolences to the families of the 34 miners who died in the hail of bullets, the families of the two SAPS members who were hacked to death and the two mine security officers who were burnt in their patrol car. We also wish a speedy recovery to the 78 miners who were wounded during the violent confrontation with the police.
I have heard what the Chief Whip of the Majority Party said at the memorial service about two hours ago. He said we should not try to find out who was to blame for what happened. But I am going to do so for the purpose of our all learning from this tragedy and also ensuring that we do not repeat the mistakes that were made.
I believe the first group of people to share the blame should be the Lonmin management that has been very insensitive to the plight of its workers. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Amcu, leadership made allegations that management refused to meet with them to discuss their grievances after initially promising to do so. When we met with the management, later in the day, Amcu's allegations were confirmed when the executive vice president of Lonmin, responsible for human capital and external affairs, told our delegation that he wanted to talk to his workers and not to Amcu's President, Joseph Mathunjwa, because he said Mathunjwa was not working at the mine. The fact remains that Mathunjwa is Amcu's President and was mandated by his union to represent them in their talks with the management. Unfortunately, the management refused to talk to him.
This refusal, obviously, exacerbated the volatile situation and angered workers even more. I believe that if he and his delegation had been given a hearing, then the situation would either have been amicably resolved or prevented from ending in the massacre of 34 miners. I believe that it was also insensitive of management to give grieving workers who needed counselling an ultimatum.
The second to share the blame should be the Amcu leadership, who must plead guilty for allowing their members to carry dangerous weapons during the strike and also for allowing them to charge at the police. We can ask the question whether they did not anticipate that the police would not just sit back and watch while armed striking protesters were charging at them with pangas, spears and other dangerous weapons. Obviously, the police had to do something to protect themselves, even though we do not condone their method.
The third person is the sangoma that allegedly performed rituals with the miners; he should also take the blame for misleading angry workers into believing that his muthi [medicine.] could make them both invisible and invincible. [Applause.] Gullible miners lost their lives and 78 others were injured while the sangoma, who cashed in on their misplaced beliefs and vulnerability, is richer today. South Africans must be warned against sangomas that exploit their fears and make money out of their ignorance while promising them impossible things.
The fourth to share the blame should be the police. Their action on that day was also wrong and inappropriate. We want to know why the police were allowed to use live ammunition when they were ordered, by way of a memorandum in December last year, not to shoot at protesters with live ammunition. Before we left Marikana, we visited the wounded in the mine hospital. Of the protesters that were shot by the police on Thursday, three of them, that I personally saw, were shot in the back as they tried to escape. The question is: Why did the police shoot at protesters who were trying to run away from the bloody confrontation? We wonder how many of those who died were shot in the back. Only the commission of inquiry that the President spoke about will give us answers.
Finally, our prayer is that the Marikana incident will not polarise our nation, but will bring us closer to one another as we pray for the healing of broken hearts and all those who were injured during last week's tragic events. I thank you. [Applause.]