No cover-ups, no white-wash! We demand the truth behind the Marikana Massacre.

‘These workers must not have died in vain. They must be remembered and honoured’.

‘It is absolutely necessary to contest the Farlam Commission Report. Without this Farlam’s version will be seen to be the truth’.

These are some of the views that came out of the first civil society consultations held by the Marikana Support Campaign in Johannesburg on 22 February 2016.

The narrative of the Marikana massacre for present and future generations is likely to be that of the Farlam Report. But the Marikana Commission of Inquiry has failed to deliver recommendations that served the victims of the massacre or South Africa’s democracy.

The main narrative of the Farlam report is that workers were shot dead because they engaged in an illegal strike. Since it is biased against the workers, any prosecution and compensation will likely also be biased against the workers, and the process will not be fair to the miners and their families. It is therefore critical to develop a strong and widely accepted counter-narrative or interpretation to ensure that the Marikana massacre is not whitewashed.

The Marikana Support Campaign is currently engaging with a broad range of supporters and allies to explore the idea of a civil society inquiry that will take the Farlam Report and the Marikana Commission of Inquiry into account, but also include what Farlam called ‘inadmissible evidence’, stories of the survivors, and with the views of the lawyers acting for the victims and survivors.

This inquiry is important to ensure the existing bias in the Farlam Report is contested and revealed as an unacceptable version of the events as well to ensure that those implicated – from Zuma to Ramaphosa, Shabangu, SAPS and Lonmin – are held to account!!