A dark day for our democracy recalled as South Africans #RememberMarikana

That it was a blight on democratic South Africa was on many minds‚ as #RememberMarikana trended on Twitter on Tuesday.

Anger and bitterness dominated the discourse as users recalled the fourth anniversary of the massacre which saw 34 miners gunned down by members of the South African Police Services.

Those killings brought to 44 the death toll of the strike and deadly standoff that followed at the North West mine.

René Vest ?@ReneVest– put it simply: “Today marks 4 years since #SA saw it’s worst massacre since apartheid. Today we #RememberMarikana when 34 miners were killed”.

Many lamented that the miners died for demanding a fair wage‚ like M U N G C O L O S I ?@MuNgcolosi: “A dark post democratic day in SA four years ago. Father’s‚ brothers uncles and son’s laid lives 4 beter work conditions #RememberMarikana”.

ONEarchitect ?@vspazierganger made mention of the amount the miners were asking for: “All they wanted was R12500.00 but it cost them their lives. Our black government never loved us #REMEMBERMARIKANA”.

Lauren Kendra?@Lauren–Kendra posted a picture of the dead mine workers‚ and included a hashtag contain the title of Rehad Desai’s award-winning documentary “Miners Shot Down”. She tweeted: “We will not forget you. #RememberMarikana #MinersShotDown”

Justice4All ?@Unathi–Kwaza recalled the television footage of the shooting‚ and said: “@eNCA @SAPoliceService Even today I can’t bring myself 2watch those horrific scenes of 16/08/12.I just can’t.Too painful. #RememberMarikana”.

- TMG Digital