Marikana resembles ANC's shameful legacy

SATURDAY marked the 13th anniversary of the Marikana massacre, a commemoration that carries no significance for the ANC and its current President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

It’s no wonder that South Africans no longer trust the party with the responsibility of leading this country. It cannot own up to the tragedy that befell the miners at the time they were demanding fair pay and improved working conditions, issues upon which the ANC’s foundation was built. 

This year’s commemoration came a day after Ramaphosa addressed the opening of the so-called National Dialogue in Pretoria on Friday.

Among the important questions he said need to be answered is why were the majority of the black population still trapped in abject poverty. One assumes the president knows the answer to this question, but was just playing to the gallery.

Perhaps the families of the slain Marikana miners would have all the answers to that question. Only if he had visited them and apologised for the massacre, as any caring government should have long done. 

They would have told him that their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands embarked on strike precisely because of the poverty they were subjected to despite the long hours underground. 

They would have also informed him that their children were robbed of their breadwinners by the very state that was supposed to protect them.

They would have painted a  picture of struggles they are confronted with  to make ends meet in an economy that is characterised by the alarming cost of living.  

But these are the answers that Ramaphosa and his current ANC are not prepared for. They are the enablers of these struggles, directly or indirectly. That is why the Marikana massacre has become a taboo topic in the former liberation movement.

Ramaphosa confirmed what many have long believed; that the ANC he leads is so detached from the realities confronting poor South Africans. If it was not, it would not waste  millions  from the public purse debating issues that all of us are aware of. 

Instead, that money could have been spent towards the education of the children of the miners the government killed in Marikana.