BOSA wants 16 August declared Marikana Memorial Day
The party said the day should officially be commemorated each year in honour of the 34 mineworkers who were killed at the Koppie in Marikana in the North West province 13 years ago.
Children walk the narrow streets sandwiched between homes residents have built themselves. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Build One South Africa (BOSA) is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare the 16th of August, Marikana Memorial Day.
The party said the day should officially be commemorated each year in honour of the 34 mineworkers who were killed at the Koppie in Marikana in the North West province 13 years ago.
Victims and families of the Marikana massacre are still waiting for justice, 13 years on, and they now plan to head to the courts to force the president to issue a formal apology.
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Police shot and killed 34 striking mineworkers on the 16th of August 2012 while they were demonstrating, calling for better living conditions and better wages.
BOSA spokesperson Roger Solomon says the president is empowered through proclamation to declare any day to be observed and commemorated.
“There is no closure and there's incomplete justice for many, many families who are now fatherless and brotherless and who have lost sons, and this is a blemish; hence, we ought to right these wrongs, and as BOSA, we are calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare 16 August Marikana Memorial Day,” Solomon said.