MARIKANA – President Jacob Zuma must suffer, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema said in Marikana.
“Zuma is not sick, he is a troubled man. We do not wish him well, we wish him long suffering,” Malema said at a post-election rally outside Rustenburg in the North West.
“He must suffer until he takes responsibility for the killing of mineworkers.
“He killed your husbands, brothers and sons. How does he expect to be at peace when he had killed so many people? The spirits are troubling him now.”
Malema was referring to the death of 34 mineworkers in 2012 in Marikana.
They were shot dead in a clash with police on 16 August 2012.
A week before 10 people including two policemen and two security guards were killed during a violent wildcat strike at Lonmin.
Rock drill operators had rejected representation by the National Union of Mineworkers and spearheaded the strike with a demand for a monthly salary of N$12 500.
Zuma was given time off to rest last week, with his party the African National Congress’s secretary general Gwede Mantashe citing the after effects of a gruelling election campaign which had taken its toll on all party officials.
Zuma is expected to resume work today.
Malema, expelled as the president of the ANC’s Youth League in 2012, said the government had failed the people of Marikana and had failed to take responsibility for the deaths there.
“The ANC never loved you. They killed our people and never take responsibility for that.”
He said the EFF would never abandon residents of Marikana.
“We will die with you and [be] buried next to you because we are one. We will never abandon you,” he said.
Malema was in Nkaneng informal settlement in Wonderkop near Marikana to thank residents for voting for the EFF in the 7 May general election.
Voters gave the party the third highest support in parliament after the ANC and the Democratic Alliance.
Meanwhile, news was eagerly awaited over whether a proposed deal to end a strike in the platinum sector which began in January, had been accepted.
Again, workers were demanding N$12 500, which Malema earlier said they should hold out for.
– Nampa-Sapa
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