Marikana families despair

Former rock-drill operator Thabile Mpumza's family in the Eastern Cape survive on R1400 in government social grants a month following his death in the Marikana massacre on August 16 last year.

Just 10 months before police opened fire on a group of strikers, platinum producer Lonmin fired Mpumza, 26.

He left the mine, opened a back-yard car repair workshop in Rustenburg and continued to send money home to Mount Ayliff to support his siblings, nieces and nephews, as well as his son, Inga, 7.

But on the day of the massacre he returned to the mine to show solidarity with his former colleagues.

The miners had become fed-up with poor conditions and were demanding a minimum wage increase from R4000 to R12500 a month, greater safety in the mines and entitlement to overtime.

He allegedly joined the protest after the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union promised to help him get his job back.

But Mpumza was among the 34 people killed in what has been described as the single most lethal use of force by the police against civilians since the Sharpeville massacre in 1960.

At least 78 others were injured.

This week, Mpumza's sister Xolelwa, 33, said the family, including a handful of children, aged between seven and 13, were struggling to survive on a few bags of mealies a month.

Mpumza, who earned R5712 a month as a rock-drill operator - and later a little less running his own business - always sent money home for food and basic household items.

Although Lonmin has contributed R15000 towards his mortuary and funeral expenses, the family wants the mine to reinstate his position and allow his elder brother, Siyabulela, 33, to take over his job as a rock- drill operator.

He has been unemployed since 2003.

"That's all we want from the mine," said Xolelwa, who sat through the Farlam commission of inquiry - charged with uncovering the truth about the Marikana massacre - even though mine bosses told her that her family were not entitled to a payout because her brother was no longer employed by the mine at the time of his death.

But the family are determined to convince the mine's management to employ Mpumza's brother.

The commission has been interrupted by constant postponements, mostly because of problems with funding for the legal team acting for the miners.

According to papers filed in the Constitutional Court last month, the miners' advocate, Dali Mpofu, launched a bid to obtain state funding.

Various estimates have put the bill for the legal team representing the police at about R3-million a month, and the cost of Mpofu's team has come to about R340000 a month.

Court papers state that the police's legal bill is now R39-million.

The commission, appointed by President Jacob Zuma and given three months to complete its work, sat for the first time in October last year.

This deadline was extended by four months and then extended again to October this year.

In Bizana, Eastern Cape, pensioners Mongezi Pato, 65, and his wife Manguphaza, 59, care for their son Mvuyisi's two children, Cebo, 4, and Snawo, 3.

But their pensions and money raised from selling chickens are barely enough to cover their expenses, including the tuition fees of their 26-year-old daughter, Fundiswa, who is studying at the University of Fort Hare.

The death of Mvuyisi, a rock-drill operator, left them at a loss over where they would get enough money for Fundiswa to complete her teaching degree.

"But we've managed for now, although it's been a struggle," said Mongezi.

The couple's son had been working on the mine for a year when the tragedy struck.

"It was very painful when we got the news that my son was among those who had been killed," said Mongezi.

The couple, who received R30000 towards their son's funeral expenses, also want a relative to be employed by Lonmin and to be compensated financially by the company.