POLL | Will Ramaphosa’s legacy be stained by Marikana?

As the country remembers the 10th anniversary of the Marikana massacre, the heated debate around President Cyril Ramaphosa’s involvement and legacy rages on.

In August 2012, 34 mineworkers were shot by police in Marikana, North West during a standoff with law enforcement while protesting for higher pay and better living conditions.

Workers at the Lonmin platinum mine were demanding a minimum monthly salary of R12,500. When negotiations with management reached a deadlock, workers engaged in strike action.

The aftermath was one of the biggest massacres in SA history, with some comparing it to Sharpeville in 1960.

A Lonmin shareholder at the time, Ramaphosa wrote to the company’s executives and senior government officials a day before the massacre to urge “concomitant action”.

Emails showed he had asked then police minister Nathi Mthethwa and then minerals and resources minister Susan Shabangu to urgently intervene.

The Farlam commission of inquiry did not draw a direct line between the emails and the action of police.

Last month, the South Gauteng High Court found a case could be made that Ramaphosa, the police and Lonmin colluded in events that led to the killings, but did not find them directly responsible for the deaths.

Speaking at Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral in 2014, Ramaphosa promised to visit Marikana to meet the families of victims.

He has yet to do so and the government has said the ongoing Marikana-related litigation is a reason for Ramaphosa’s no show.

Marikana widow Aisha Fundi told TimesLIVE Premium the president is not a man of his word.

“I had hoped he [Ramaphosa] would come and address Marikana. I am quite disappointed that he is not a man of his word, [especially] because he was a unionist.”