Marikana tragedy brings back sad memories

Today marks four years since 34 mineworkers, most from the Eastern Cape, were shot dead by police during a strike at Marikana on the North West province’s platinum belt.

For their families the day is just another stark reminder of memories they would rather not have about the massacre.

Veronica Noluvuyo Noki, 35, the widow of a Marikana victim, said she had barely been married for two years when the infamous events unfolded on August 16 2012.

Her husband, Mgcineni Mambush Noki, who was 30 then, was a leading figure in the strike.

He was popularly known as the “Man in the Green Blanket” due to a green blanket he always had draped around his shoulders.

“This is a day I would love to forget,” she said. “But it just does not go away. This day reminds me of the days they took away my husband and left our young child fatherless.

“This remains a sad moment in my life and it pierces deep in my heart,” said Noki, who raises their daughter, Asive, alone.

School fees for Asive, now in Grade 1, are paid for by Lonmin.

But this is little consolation for Noki, who said there had been no transport arrangements made for people wanting to travel to Marikana to commemorate the massacre.

“I am sad. Travelling to Marikana for this will make feel closer to him,” she said.

“We were told that we have to make our own transport means to the commemoration.”

The Noki family from Thwalikhulu village between Coffee Bay and Mqanduli is the first of the 34 families that will have a house built for them through the Marikana Massacre Amcu Trust Fund.

A sod-turning ceremony was recently done by Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa on Women’s Day – the day miners started to talk about the strike.

It is hoped that the family will be in their new home by Christmas.

“The building of the house makes us proud and it was one of Mambush’s dreams to build his family a decent home,” said Noki.

Known as Mambush because of his soccer skills, Mgcineni was among the 34 killed when police opened fire with automatic rifles at striking miners.

The miners were demanding that mine management increase their monthly wages to R12500. Mgcineni was widely regarded as the face representing both the plight of the striking workers and that of the massacre.

Nobayingala Mkhonjwa, 53, the mother of one of the deceased Marikana massacre victims, Makhosandile Mkhonjwa, said she did not know if any events were planned for today.