The Marikana tragedy occurred ten years ago, and the National Prosecution Authority claims it is ready to proceed with the trial.
Seventeen mineworkers have been charged with murder in the days preceding the 2012 incident. Ten persons were slain between August 12 and 16, including two police officers and two security guards.
 |
| The Lonmin Platinum Smelter in Marikana, South Africa. Image: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty |
The Marikana massacre occurred on August 16, 2012, throughout a six-week wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana near Rustenburg in South Africa's North West province, when thirty-four miners were killed by the South African Police Service (SAPS). The slaughter was likened to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre as most significant fatal use of force by South African security forces against people since the 1976 Soweto revolt.
 |
| These are striking miners waving their machetes. Image: Gallo Images/Getty Images |
The killing happened on the seventh day of an unlawful wildcat strike at the mine: although the first strikers were mostly National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) rock drill operators, the strike action was initiated without NUM sanction.
According to reports from eNCA, the accused appeared in the Mogwase Regional Court for a pre-trial meeting before the High Court.
 |
| Police officers with the bodies of dead strikers after the shootings. Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images |
According to a report from The Guardian, the violence became more intense. The next day, August 12, roughly 150 strikers marched from their new headquarters on the koppie to the Lonmin office. There were fights. A striker lobbed a pebble. A shotgun was discharged by a security guard. Strikers swarmed forward. Some of the workers were now armed with pangas, which they used with lethal ferocity, slicing one guard from armpit to hip and chopping two more to death. One of the bodies had been completely burnt. During the next 24 hours, two miners were murdered as they attempted to work in the dark.
The suspects are facing charges of murder, intentional property damage, and unlawful possession of guns, but this is all pending a review application before the Pretoria High Court.
However, the miners want all allegations against them dropped. The NPA claims that starting the trial is in the best interests of justice and the families.
