N West ready for ‘reconcilation, healing, unity’

580 08.07.2013 North West ANC chairperson Supra Mahumapelo, speaks to Salaminah Mohalne(L) and Amogelang Mashoba(R), as ANC delegates visited commuters at Potchefstroom taxi rank, to campaign on the up coming elections, North West. Picture: Itumeleng English

580 08.07.2013 North West ANC chairperson Supra Mahumapelo, speaks to Salaminah Mohalne(L) and Amogelang Mashoba(R), as ANC delegates visited commuters at Potchefstroom taxi rank, to campaign on the up coming elections, North West. Picture: Itumeleng English

Published Jun 26, 2014

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Marikana - Relations in Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West province, have been damaged and need to be improved, premier Supra Mahumapelo said on Thursday.

“The relations have been damaged in the Marikana area - we need to work on them,” he told The New Age's business breakfast briefing.

“Unity, including unity in the country, is a road that is perpetual in the construction. We will never reach a stage in society where we say we have completely attained unity. It is something that you work on on a daily basis... We urge everyone to come to the party.”

He said government would launch a program of reconciliation, healing, and renewal in the province, focusing on areas such as Marikana and Bloemhof.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) on Tuesday afternoon signed agreements with platinum producers in the province - Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum, and Lonmin - ending a five-month strike in the sector which had a vast negative economic ripple effect in the area.

Thirty-four people, almost all striking miners, were shot dead on August 16, 2012, and 78 were wounded when police fired on them while trying to disperse a group gathered on a hill near Lonmin's Marikana mine.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed near the mine. The Farlam Commission of Inquiry, appointed by President Jacob Zuma, is examining the circumstances of the 44 deaths.

Mahumapelo said during his “state-of-the-province” address on Friday he would announce a package of measures that would ensure there was a chain of communication in the province, which included an early-warning system.

He said the death of three babies in Bloemhof, during a water crisis, was a sad story and an unnecessary loss of life.

He called this a managerial problem and said government would ensure it did not happen again.

“It was not cholera, it was contamination of water. It has been resolved and the situation is back to normal.”

Since May 25, over 500 cases of diarrhoea were recorded at health care facilities in Bloemhof, which falls under the Lekwa-Teemane municipality.

Three babies, aged between seven and 13 months, died in Bloemhof during the crisis, with their deaths believed to be as a result of contaminated tap water.

The briefing was televised live on SABC2. - Sapa

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