Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) dance and sing around Wonderkop Hill during the 4th anniversary of the Marikana shooting in Rustenburg, South Africa. (Photo by Shiraaz Mohamed/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
As the 10 year anniversary of the massacre that claimed the lives of 44 mineworkers, police officers and security guards in Marikana draws near, some widows of the tragedy are still waiting for houses promised to them in the aftermath.
On 16 August 2012, police officers shot and killed 34 Lonmin mine workers who went on an unprotected strike for better wages and living conditions. Earlier the same week, 10 people had been killed in a wave of violence linked to the protest.
As part of the reparations for those affected by the violence, Lonmin undertook to provide houses to the widows of those killed.
But to date, eight out of the 44 widows have still not received the accommodation, with mining company Sibanye-Stillwater — which assumed the responsibility after buying Lonmin in 2019 — saying they are “under construction”.
According to Thabisile Phumo, the executive vice-president for stakeholder relations at Sibanye-Stillwater, out of the 44 houses promised, 16 were still outstanding when the company took over in 2019 but the balance has since been cut by half.
Twenty-eight houses were built and handed over by a trust fund set up by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) in 2016, Phumo said, adding: “We got involved because we were asked by the widows who were still on the waiting list.”
The remaining eight houses are being built in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, North West and Northern Cape, as well as Lesotho. Phumo said the far-flung locations, selected by the widows, were one of the reasons for the delayed construction, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for consultation.
Sibanye-Stillwater is one of the world’s leading producers of platinum, palladium, and rhodium and gold.
“If all the widows or families were here [Gauteng], it would have been easy but remember that the bulk of the houses are in the Eastern Cape and Lesotho. If you want to construct houses in Lesotho and you are a South African company, there are approvals that you need to get. It’s not easy,” she said.
In some areas such as Mpumalanga, Sibanye-Stillwater has had to get municipal approval to build the houses.
“In the Eastern Cape you will recall the rains, if you discount Covid-19. But all the houses are signed off by the widows and some are at different stages of construction. So, if we didn’t have Covid-19 we would have completed them in 2020,” said Phumo.
The majority of Sibanye-Stillwater’s employees, across all operations, come from the Eastern Cape (28%) followed by North West (20%) and Gauteng (12%) while 20% are from Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Botswana and Zimbabwe, according to the company’s 2021 integrated report. In all, the mining giant has 64 034 employees across its operations.
Phumo said she expected the houses to be completed by the end of 2022 but could not provide a definite date.
Anathi Madubela is an Adamela Trust business reporter at the M&G.
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