Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel was heckled at the University of the Witwatersrand last night by protesting mineworkers from Marikana, near Rustenburg.
"Why are we invited and not afforded a chance to ask questions?" asked one of them. He wore a green Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union T-shirt.
"Hold on the music," he called out, after it was announced that Johnny Clegg would perform. The group asked what Manuel had done as a former finance minister to close the gap between the rich and the poor.
Claire Ceruti, of the Democratic Left Front (DLF), led the group as it was escorted from the hall by security.
"We want answers. What have you done?" she shouted.
Earlier, the group held posters outside the hall asking Manuel whether the cabinet had ordered the police to kill protesting mineworkers at Marikana last year.
The police opened fire on striking mineworkers, killing 34 of them while trying to disperse a group gathered on a hill near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on August 16.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths are being investigated by the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.
Manuel was at the university to deliver the Ruth First memorial lecture. The DLF said First had been a fighter for social and economic justice.
Manuel said the revolt by Marikana mineworkers was a result of inequalities.
"As a country, South Africa must learn from the Marikana incident. It must be a wake-up call," he said.
He said according to a census report, 40% of people in Marikana lived in informal back yard rooms. Most of them owed more than one loan shark.
The government needed to intervene to address the injustices of the past. "We need a people-centred democracy."
He said the National Development Plan was intended to address the inequalities of apartheid. "There is a better tomorrow. A better tomorrow that requires sacrifice from all."
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