Skewed editorial on Marikana Massacre

I refer to your leading article on the thirteenth anniversary of the Marikana Massacre (“Ramaphosa must face Marikana widows”, The Star, August 19).

No sane person would deny that the police reaction on that day was disproportionately lethal, and that some form of compensation should have been made by the platinum mining industry. What has to be disputed is how the editorial in question has been framed.

In recent years, there has been a tendency among journalists to whitewash the events that led to the massacre.

Those of us who read about this tragedy thirteen years ago, reported by some respected journalists and editors, will recall that the police were provoked, and that the miners were not innocent protesters. Visuals that were published then showed the miners carrying crude weapons that could inflict death.

There were several people, including a police officer or two, killed in the days preceding the massacre. There were rituals performed on the koppie, probably some form of witchcraft to make the miners invulnerable in the event of a confrontation.

None of this is even hinted at in the editorial, which portrays the miners as hapless victims. Even the Farlam Commission was wary of finding anyone guilty.

Those not familiar with the events of August 16, 2012, would not have been served well by the skewed version in The Star’s editorial. They would be better served by Wikipedia, even though academia may thumb its nose at this online “encyclopedia”.

Harry Sewlall

Parkmore