Bishop slams Lonmin bosses

told the thousands of people gathered in Wonderkop near Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine.
He told mourners at the service that profits must not be made at the expense of workers, while slamming Lonmin management for allowing their workers to live in “filth and rubbish with no assistance”.
More than a thousand Wonderkop residents and dozens of clergymen and priests gathered under a white marquee at the edge of the informal settlement, at the service yesterday for the 34 miners shot dead during a protest at Lonmin Platinum mine in Marikana.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi put on surgical gloves to help treat mourners who collapsed at the service. Paramedics had their hands full as mourners became emotional during the service.
Priests took the stage and led the mourners in hymns before leading them along in cries of “hallelujah”.
“Let us not kill one another . . . forgive, do not (take) revenge,” said Seoka. It was time for politicians to stop using the tragedy to score political points, he said.
“Our politicians, please . . . do not score cheap political points through this tragedy. These are God’s people.”
SABC radio news reported that the government had abandoned plans to hold its memorial service to join the community’s service instead.
Expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, sat in front with the widows and older women, with suspended league secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa, next to United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa.
Addressing the service, Malema warned that the country’s mines should brace for a revolution unless workers’ conditions improve. If working conditions on the mines “are not going to change, we are going to see more of the strikes in the mining sector,” Malema said.
“This is a mining revolution. We are not going to retreat, we are not going to surrender until the white man gives us our money,” he added to loud applause from thousands who gathered at the service that leading politicians said should remain religious.
He accused top government officials, including President Zuma, of failing to act for workers because they were enjoying mining profits.
“The reason government is failing to intervene in the mines is because our leaders are involved in the mines,” he said.
Government ministers, including Cyril Ramaphosa walked out of the service after Malema branded them “cowards”.
Meanwhile, several women collapsed in tears when they saw jackets, blankets and shoes, which had been worn by the slain workers, on display at the service. One of the woman had to be carried out of the memorial service after being overcome with grief.
Also attending the service were Motsoaledi, former youth league spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, Co-operative Governance Minister Richard Baloyi, North West premier Thandi Modise and Rustenburg mayor Mpho Khonou.
Flags continued to fly at half mast throughout the country in the national week of mourning.
The death toll from the week of Marikana violence stood at 44, including the 34 miners and another 10 people who were killed during the protest, including two policemen and two security guards.
In Gauteng, premier Nomvula Mokonyane was expected to lead a service later in the afternoon in Johannesburg.
The service was slated for Johannesburg City Hall. Wits University was expected to observe the day by marching against violence at its Braamfontein campus. The march was scheduled to start at the Great Hall and end on Jan Smuts Avenue.
President Jacob Zuma, who did not attend the service in Marikana named a judicial commission yesterday to carry out a wide-ranging inquiry into clashes that killed 44 people during a miners’ strike and the labour conditions behind the unrest.
Zuma had announced the inquiry on the day after the August 16 police crackdown, when 34 workers were gunned down following inter-union clashes that earlier had killed 10 people at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine.
Police are already investigating the killings, and the independent police watchdog is probing the conduct of the officers.
But Zuma’s commission, appointed with unusual speed, has been granted broad purview to examine the police, mining giant Lonmin, rival unions, the government and any individuals involved in the violence.
“It has been directed to investigate matters of public, national and international concern rising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people,” Zuma said in televised remarks.
Retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam will head the three-person commission, which also includes two other senior advocates. They have four months to complete their investigation and another month to submit their report. The commission will look not only at security issues, but also at broader concerns about labour policies and working conditions, Zuma said.
A key point of inquiry is the rivalry between the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the powerful National Union of Mineworkers, a key ally of Zuma’s ruling African National Congress.
But all the players targeted in the probe will have to answer questions on whether they did anything to defuse the tension at the mine before it escalated into violence.
The inquiry will probe any police orders to shoot, and whether the use of force was “reasonable and justifiable”.
In separate investigations, police are also probing the killings, while the independent police watchdog is looking into the conduct of the officers who opened fire at the crowd that was armed mainly with spears, clubs and machetes. — Mail & Guardian-AFP.