THIRTEEN months later and with a commission of inquiry investigating circumstances surrounding the massacre still far from being concluded, a riveting book detailing events prior, during and after that fateful August 16 day has been released.
A first-hand account by six award-winning journalists who covered the Lonmin mine’s unprotected strike and its aftermath, is translated in a book published by Tafelberg Publishers, released on the day of the massacre’s first anniversary last month, and titled We Are Going to Kill Each Other Today: The Marikana Story.
“It just made it more glaring. For me, then, Marikana has shown that we have made less progress than we would have liked to believe in building a new society,” said Saba.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch this week, Jika said the most challenging experience in covering the story, was gaining the trust of the mineworkers.
“It had appeared on TV and others mediums that these men were dangerous and baying for blood. What I experienced were men who had travelled long distances to try and find a better life for their families back home. I met men who were fighting for what they believed was their right.
“I can only speak about the aftermath of the massacre as I wasn’t present on the day of the massacre. It was difficult and quite challenging to gain the trust of the mineworkers after the massacre as they questioned my intention of living and drinking with them in the Nkaneng informal settlement where they lived,” Jika said.
Asked if this was his first intense coverage in his spell as a journalist, Jika likened the experience to his coverage of the xenophobic attacks against Somalis in East London while he was still with the Dispatch.
“I would say from the way I covered the story it wasn’t different from covering the story of xenophobic attacks in East London where Somalis were being killed in numbers.
“I lived in the informal settlement in Mdantsane in 2008 covering the attacks and this time around I had to live in Nkaneng for a week to capture the story behind the headlines and to document the lives of the mineworkers,” said Jika, adding that he believed the Marikana situation could have been handled differently.
Sadiki said one of the experiences that stuck in his mind was meeting the man dubbed as “the man in the green blanket” and then a few days down the line seeing his lifeless body on the ground.
Asked about the difference compared to other protests he had covered, Sadiki said Marikana was a different kind of strike compared to most of the protests he had done in his career including the xenophobic attacks of 2008 “because no one could have anticipated what would happen on August 16”.
“In retrospect my colleagues and I were in the firing line that fateful day. But my senses were on high alert because anything could have happened. When the shooting occurred, like any other human being, I had a sense of fear and dread but I also had a job to do and a story to tell through pictures,” said Sadiki.
Asked about his favourite image, he said, “It’s of the man in the green blanket; the same picture that has been used on the cover. That picture describes what the conflict was all about and it’s also laden with emotion.
“It describes the sense of leadership that the miners were prepared to take to change the injustices that were on the platinum belt.”
An exhibition of Sadiki, Dlangamandla and Ledwaba’s photo images runs until the end of this month at Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Gripping account of Marikana horror
A first-hand account by six award-winning journalists who covered the Lonmin mine’s unprotected strike and its aftermath, is translated in a book published by Tafelberg Publishers, released on the day of the massacre’s first anniversary last month, and titled We Are Going to Kill Each Other Today: The Marikana Story.
“It just made it more glaring. For me, then, Marikana has shown that we have made less progress than we would have liked to believe in building a new society,” said Saba.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch this week, Jika said the most challenging experience in covering the story, was gaining the trust of the mineworkers.
“It had appeared on TV and others mediums that these men were dangerous and baying for blood. What I experienced were men who had travelled long distances to try and find a better life for their families back home. I met men who were fighting for what they believed was their right.
“I can only speak about the aftermath of the massacre as I wasn’t present on the day of the massacre. It was difficult and quite challenging to gain the trust of the mineworkers after the massacre as they questioned my intention of living and drinking with them in the Nkaneng informal settlement where they lived,” Jika said.
Asked if this was his first intense coverage in his spell as a journalist, Jika likened the experience to his coverage of the xenophobic attacks against Somalis in East London while he was still with the Dispatch.
“I would say from the way I covered the story it wasn’t different from covering the story of xenophobic attacks in East London where Somalis were being killed in numbers.
“I lived in the informal settlement in Mdantsane in 2008 covering the attacks and this time around I had to live in Nkaneng for a week to capture the story behind the headlines and to document the lives of the mineworkers,” said Jika, adding that he believed the Marikana situation could have been handled differently.
Sadiki said one of the experiences that stuck in his mind was meeting the man dubbed as “the man in the green blanket” and then a few days down the line seeing his lifeless body on the ground.
Asked about the difference compared to other protests he had covered, Sadiki said Marikana was a different kind of strike compared to most of the protests he had done in his career including the xenophobic attacks of 2008 “because no one could have anticipated what would happen on August 16”.
“In retrospect my colleagues and I were in the firing line that fateful day. But my senses were on high alert because anything could have happened. When the shooting occurred, like any other human being, I had a sense of fear and dread but I also had a job to do and a story to tell through pictures,” said Sadiki.
Asked about his favourite image, he said, “It’s of the man in the green blanket; the same picture that has been used on the cover. That picture describes what the conflict was all about and it’s also laden with emotion.
“It describes the sense of leadership that the miners were prepared to take to change the injustices that were on the platinum belt.”
An exhibition of Sadiki, Dlangamandla and Ledwaba’s photo images runs until the end of this month at Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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