The legal aid to the Marikana mineworkers, Dali Mpofu has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to apologise and compensate the families of Marikana victims before month end or face the court.
Mpofu said this during the eighth commemoration of the massacre, eight years after 34 mineworkers were killed at Lonmin’s platinum mine on 16 August 2012.
He said only one out of all legal cases have been settled and those who have suffered the most have still not been compensated.
Mpofu said the victims don’t just want financial compensation alone.
“Actually the issue of the apology is sometimes even more important to them, than the money. Because they want closure.”
“And so we appeal to Mr. Ramaphosa to stop taking technical points. In his capacity as the president of the country, I have been asked by the people I represent to say that we are giving them to the end of August,” Mpofu said.
He said Ramaphosa has been hiding behind technicalities in court and insisting in his legal presentations that there is no need for an apology.
But, during his campaign for the ANC presidency, Ramaphosa apologised for the manner in which the massacre unfolded.
He also promised to visit the area to apologise to victims.
Ramaphosa was then a non-executive director at Lonmin mines at the time of the incident.
Mpofu warned that if Ramaphosa fails to apologise, a team of advocates, which includes Dumisa Ntsebeza SC and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC would take up the matter against the state and Ramaphosa.
