Johannesburg - Twenty-four years ago on June 17 Maria Mosoetsa watched her uncle and older brother get hacked to death.
She was only 15 years old at the time. Her family members would be among the 45 victims of the Boipatong massacre, one of the bloodiest mass killings in South Africa.
“At 10pm that night, we were sleeping. White policemen used soot to blacken their faces and covered their faces with balaclavas. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) people had red head bands and they were heavily armed.
“When they entered our yard they smashed the windows, forced the door open and got inside. I quickly ran and hid under the bed. One of them came and stabbed the spot of the mattress that had been directly above me,” she said.
Mosoetsa, now 39 years old, managed to hide long enough under the bed for the attackers, believed to be part of a state-sponsored killing force, to move to other parts of their house.
“I remember them asking 'Ziphi izinja zika Mandela?' (Where are Mandela’s dogs?) And thereafter they went on a killing spree; They killed anything that moved and they also destroyed our homes,” Mosoetsa said, speaking at the Vuka cemetery in Sharpeville, a 10-minute drive from Boipatong. It’s where most of the victims of the massacre have been buried.
This year, the massacre was commemorated with a wreath-laying ceremony, followed by the second official opening of the Boipatong Monument.
The memorial includes a museum, youth consultancy centre and a workshop area where the community can make arts and crafts to sell. It will be fully operational from Monday, and entrance to the museum is free.
The monument and museum, however, have been plagued by problems. Locals said they've been prohibited from visiting the memorial site as contractors are denying people access, claiming they haven't been paid for work done.
Mosoetsa is also not happy with how the survivors and families of survivors have been treated, more than two decades later.
Twenty-four years on, the scars of that night have stayed with her. She said what's most upsetting is that despite the fact that 45 people lost their lives that night, the massacre's remembered with less significance than the events of June 16 or Sharpeville.
There's even controversy over the details. Affected families insist the killings happened in the early hours of June 17, while some locals claim the killings started on the night of June 16.
This annoys Mosoetsa, who resents being “corrected” by people who were not directly affected. She also lamented that life is tougher for them now, and that the government only remembers them on one day of the year.
“They only know us when this day comes around. They will come to us, the day before the event, organise us so that we are ready, and we come and do this whole thing with them, but tomorrow it’s back to normal,” she said.
Elizabeth Hlubi, another survivor of the massacre, was injured when she was stabbed on the left side of her body, just below her armpit. The injury still affects her physically to this day: “After the incident, I thought I had healed well. But last year, I had to get operated on at Sebokeng Hospital, and get treatment. I could not afford it. None of these people (the government) have tried to assist me. I am unemployed, I am constantly in pain, and they only know us on the 17th,” Hlubi said.
Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation Faith Mazibuko urged the community to respect the families' insistence that the massacre happened on June 17.
It's important that we get this right, because it's a part of our history. This is information that we archive so that our children, our grandchildren and nations to come will hear this story and make sure something like this never happens again,” Mazibuko said at the opening of the monument.
Boipatong ward councillor Mabandla Ronyura said he knew about the families’ plight and how hard-hit they've been by unemployment in the area. He said: “There are Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) projects that can give people employment, and the running of this monument can help to address the issue of unemployment.”
Saturday Star