Marikana Massacre Survivors On Justice March

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

Hundreds of survivors of South Africa's worst post-apartheid tragedy marched through Pretoria today to the seat of government to demand justice over the Marikana mine shootings.

The demonstrators want the state to pay their legal fees for the Presidential Commission of Inquiry which is trying to determine what went wrong last year.

At the moment, the inquiry is continuing without the miners' representatives.

Forty-four people, including two policemen and two security guards, died in a series of violent incidents last year.

Thirty-four of them were miners who were shot dead when police opened fire on strikers last August 16.

The Bishop of Pretoria has called on all South Africans to take part in the march to ensure justice is served at the Commission.

Mine workers taking part in a march last year

The miners insist they will not be represented by lawyers provided by the state - while the government says it will not pay for private lawyers for the miners at the inquiry.

One injured miner who was shot eight times by police told Sky News how he was virtually crippled in the shootings.

Mzoxolo Magidwana said he could no longer walk without a crutch, he had lost a testicle in the shootings and he would never be able to father any children.

"I will never know the joy of having a child now," he said.

More than a year after the massacre he still lives in a shack at Marikana and receives sick pay every month from Lonmin Platinum Mines of just over 2,000 South African rand a month (£133).

"We went through all of that last year and we still got nothing. We are just treated like slaves," he told us.

"All those fat cats (politicians) don't care about the blood spilled. This land is also ours, not just the ANC's, Jacob Zuma's. What has happened to us is an insult."

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