Johannesburg - A lawyer involved in the lawsuits relating to the Marikana massacre has declared that he is even prepared to fight death to ensure that President Cyril Ramaphosa is prosecuted for his role in the tragedy.
Advocate Dali Mpofu SC, who represents the mineworkers injured and arrested during the Marikana massacre a decade ago, on Tuesday said the most important case was the one that involved people being prosecuted.
Addressing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (Amcu’s) tenth anniversary commemoration of the massacre, Mpofu said the case that has not even started is the most important case of all to him.
“That is the case we have against (President Cyril) Ramaphosa and Sibanye Stillwater. Even if someone shoots me I will not die until that case is finalised.
“I want to see it with my own eyes because the importance of that case is that it confirms what Mzoxolo Magidiwana (one of the survivors of the shooting) has indicated: There is no amount of money, no matter how much it is, that can compensate for the lives lost and blood spilled here,” he told the victims’ families, Amcu members and other mineworkers at the site of the massacre.
According to Mpofu, when the lawyers representing the injured and arrested mineworkers file a claim they do so to ensure that there is something for compensation but they are not saying this will remove all the pain.
“In the case against Ramaphosa and Sibanye Stillwater, we do not only want money. We want three other things. The site of the massacre must be fenced off and be dignified; it should not be a place where people just urinate. Second, we want them to build a memorial with the names of all the victims,” he explained.
Mpofu added that their third demand was the easiest among all.
“They must apologise. What makes it difficult for them to apologise to people? He (Ramaphosa) could have even used that money stolen from his Phala Phala farm to erect a fence and do so many times,” he said.
Mpofu said Phala Phala farm showed that there is a lot of money.
“He must come and use it here. Maybe we can even forgive him for what he did there, the mattress issue (Phala Phala farm),” said Mpofu.
He was referring to the scandal that emerged a few weeks ago when it was uncovered that wads of cash in foreign currency and hidden in household furniture were stolen from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in 2020 but the crime was never reported to the police.
Mpofu also confirmed the Socio-Economic Rights Institute’s (Seri’s) announcement that there were pending cases against the state as only the loss of support matter had been finalised.
Seri, which represents the families of 36 of the mineworkers killed in the week of the Marikana massacre, has indicated that its clients’ general damages claim against the state had not been finalised and there had been no communication from the government on the matter.
Mpofu said in a number of damages cases there were some people who had been compensated.
“As I stand here, there is a case of injured mineworkers that is continuing tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa also expressed his unhappiness with Ramaphosa’s failure to publicly apologise.
“We are saying to you (Mgcineni Noki, one of the leaders of the mineworkers in 2012), the government led by the honourable Cyril Ramaphosa has not come and apologise to your wife (Noluvuyo),” he said.