Zuma on the offensive over massacre

President Jacob Zuma dances as ANC supporters sing and make the second term sign after he delivered a James Moroka Lecture at the Mabatho Civic Center in Mafikeng, North West. 220812 Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

President Jacob Zuma dances as ANC supporters sing and make the second term sign after he delivered a James Moroka Lecture at the Mabatho Civic Center in Mafikeng, North West. 220812 Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

Published Aug 23, 2012

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Mahikeng - President Jacob Zuma used his memorial lecture in North West on Wednesday night to defend his administration’s handling of the Marikana massacre.

He also tore into his arch-rival, expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, and his fellow comrades for “insulting” ANC leaders outside party structures.

Zuma was delivering a lecture in Mahikeng in honour of ANC stalwart Dr James Sedi Moroka, who led the party between 1949 and 1952.

It was the first time in his lectures that Zuma deviated from the life of a stalwart being honoured to talk about pressing socio-economic and political issues outside the ANC.

Thirty-four miners were mowed down at the Lonmin mine near Rustenburg, North West, last week.

Zuma said the judicial commission of inquiry he had appointed would determine the guilt or innocence of the policemen. He said he would announce the names of the commissioners before the end of the week.

 

“This is time for mourning. It is not time to apportion blame or [for] finger-pointing. It is time to support these families. I won’t judge the incident. The judicial commission of inquiry will do so. It must uncover the truth… Tell how an industrial dispute degenerated into a tragedy,” he added.

Zuma said almost half the country’s platinum mines, particularly in North West, were not complying with the mining charter.

The charter requires the mines to provide decent houses, water and sanitation to its employees.

He singled out one mining house, which he did not name, for allegedly accommodating 166 employees in a single compound.

Zuma said 666 of the mine’s workers shared four toilets and four showers.

Zuma was speaking

five days after Malema had accused him of not caring about the plight of the miners because he had failed to meet them during his visit on Friday.

Without mentioning Malema by name, he said the 1949 ANCYL generation led by Nelson Mandela, when Moroka was president, was different to the current league, which he said had insulted party leaders.

He said Mandela and ANC veteran Walter Sisulu had presented their adopted programme of action to the ANC.

“Mandela and Sisulu did not go outside the ANC. They went to the ANC,” Zuma said.

The majority of the hundreds of people packed inside the Mahikeng Convention Centre appeared to be backing Zuma’s bid for a second term at the party’s elective national conference in Mangaung, Free State, in December. They clapped and ululated for the better part of the lecture.

Earlier, Zuma had returned to the area close to where the miners were killed by the police to explain himself to the angry workers.

This came after Malema had opportunistically exploited the massacre to question his leadership and called on Zuma to resign over the shootings.

Malema had told the miners at the weekend that Zuma had chosen to meet “everyone” except the mineworkers.

The firebrand had urged the miners to disown Zuma, and to tell all and sundry they did not have a president.

Zuma was presiding over a regime of “murderers” who killed miners to protect the mining interests of ANC national executive committee member Cyril Ramaphosa, Malema claimed.

In what appeared to be a direct response to Malema, an apologetic Zuma took time to explain himself.

He said he could not meet the striking mineworkers at the weekend because he was attending a Southern African Development Community gathering in Mozambique.

But he was forced to cut short his trip upon receiving news that people had been gunned down at Marikana, he said.

The ANC leader was at pains to explain that he would have loved to come to the scene on the day in question, but it had been too late. As a result, he could visit only those in hospital, Zuma said.

“People can’t just die, and it’s unacceptable that many people can just die like this. I’m yet to meet the unions because I wanted to hear you first, but it does not mean when you can’t agree on issues, then people must die,” he said.

Zuma said the injured miners had “explained what happened”, which had prompted him to establish a commission of inquiry.

Zuma denied that he had chosen to meet only the mine management, saying: “I don’t know what the employer said because I have not met [Lonmin management] and I still want to hear from the employer what had happened.”

He had received a lukewarm response from the miners, who again used strong language against the National Union of Mineworkers.

Before Zuma could speak, the miners presented him with two plastic bags containing bullet cartridges. They said this was proof that the police had used live ammunition against their defenceless colleagues.

“I can see these [bullet casings] and have heard from you,” Zuma said

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