Sorry, Cyril, Marikana apology is not enough
Ramaphosa should be charged under anticorruption act and families of the dead should be fully compensated, writes Peter Alexander
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has "apologised" for his actions in the run-up to the Marikana massacre when police killed 34 striking mineworkers on August 16 2012. His supposed apology during a speech at Rhodes University last week apparently followed advice by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela that he make amends and visit Marikana. But was it a proper apology? Ramaphosa only referred to "language" he used in e-mails to fellow Lonmin directors that he said "may have been unfortunate" and "not appropriate". But, to the best of my knowledge, no one has requested an apology for "language". The concern is about his actions and their relationship to the killings. Ramaphosa also said it was never his intention to have 34 mineworkers killed, but this again skirts the issue. Nobody suggested he was responsible for the 34 deaths. The argument is that his intervention made bloodshed more likely and that he might have stopped the killings had he acted differently. His critics (myself included) are...
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