Lonmin workers deny using 'muti'

FOLLOWING the shooting of 34 miners by police at Marikana in North West last month, blame has been quickly attributed to a sangoma who falsely led the strikers into believing that they were invincible due to the 'muti' he had given them.

It is alleged a sangoma from Eastern Cape was sent to the mine to "wash" the striking workers with muti and in some instances made cuts on their backs and rubbed muti into the wounds to make them invincible.

But this was dismissed by many miners who took part in the strike. Speaking to journalists, miners said the story was a "myth".

Sithembele Sohadi, a mine-workers' leader, said the accusations had left them filled with anger. "That rumour just painted a picture that miners are dumb. There is no way that we can use muti so that we can be invincible from police - for what?" he asked. "We were not fighting with police but with the mine. We are not stupid."

Another miner, who was allegedly badly beaten up by the police before being arrested, also dismissed the allegations. "It was said that we paid R500 to this sangoma, we didn't do that," said King Dunga. "Where would we get that money? How was that going to help us?"

Thirty-two of the 34 miners killed in the strike were from Eastern Cape, a province which has a long history of supplying labour to the mines. ANC secretary general and former unionist Gwede Mantashe used to work at Lonmin after being recruited from his rural Cala village, in Transkei.

Sohadi said the reason why so many Eastern Cape miners had died in the strike was because they were feeling the pinch of having no money the most. "Most people who were feeling this were Eastern Cape people who have to spend between R1500 and R3000 to travel home to their families to attend funerals and other pressing issues," he said.

"So, we felt this more than others. We were at the forefront because of that. There was no way that we can relax while we felt the pinch. Many of us were caught in front, and unfortunately comrades died," he said adding that amaXhosa were stubborn when it came to their rights.

This article was first published in the printed newspaper on 1 October 2012

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