JOHANNESBURG, JUNE 30 2015 – The Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has called for lessons to be learned from the Marikana massacre in which 34 miners were killed and many others injured.
This followed the release last week of a report by a Commission of Inquiry that President Jacob Zuma appointed to look into the Marikana massacre.
The massacre happened on August 16, 2012 where the world witnessed shocking television images of South African police firing live bullets at thousands of striking miners at South Africa’s Marikana platinum mine.
In reaction to the report, the Justice and Peace Commission of the SACBC has complained that the structural realities that set the scene for the strike and violent bloodbath in 2012, remain unchanged in South Africa’s mining industry.
“If these structural issues are not adequately addressed, we shall soon have another Marikana, if we continue to pursue a brand of mining economy that puts profit before people,” Bishop Gabuza the Chairperson of the Justice and Peace Commission at Bishops’ Conference warned.
The Justice and Peace Commission reached out in prayer and solidarity with the families of those who lost their loved ones during and after the Marikana massacre.
“Our hearts are with the families who lost their loved ones and are struggling to find healing and closure as they try to make sense of the findings of the Marikana report. There is also a need for healing in the whole country from the culture of structural violence,” they said.
