President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa must resign following the death of mineworkers at Lonmin’s Marikana operations, in the North West, expelled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema said on Saturday.  

“President Zuma decided over the massacre of our people, he must step down.”  Malema was speaking in Wonderkop where around 34 people were killed in a clash between police on Thursday.  

He said Mthethwa must also resign because the police shot people under his command.   “He must resign because he failed in executing his duties.” 

Malema told the crowd that the police were supposed to protect them and not kill them.  

“It has never happened before that so many people were killed in a single day and it became normal,” he said.  

Malema, who pledged his support for the striking mineworkers, urged them not to retreat and to stand firm on their demand for a R12,500 salary.

He said the reason the police shot at the people was because they were protecting the interest of ANC NEC member, Cyril Ramaphosa, who he alleged owned shares in Lonmin.  

“Lonmin had a high political connection that is why our people were killed. They were killed to protect the shares of Cyril Ramaphosa,” he said.

He told the gathering that it was amazing that Ramaphosa was able to buy a buffalo for R18 million but could not pay them the R12,500 they were demanding.  

At the weekend, the Shanduka Group, which was formed Cyril Ramaphosa, pledged R2 million for the burial of scores of people killed in the Lonmin clashes.  

Malema said one reason why he called for the resignation of President Zuma was that he failed in his duty to protect the citizens of the country.  

“When you were killed, Zuma was still in the country. He decided to go to Maputo, Mozambique and once he was there he was advised that he made a wrong decision. That is why he returned to the country yesterday [Friday].” 

He told the crowd that if they were asked who is the president of the country, they should say they do not have a president: “I don’t have a president. Zuma is not a president.”  

He called on the mineworkers to form a militant union that would represent their interests.  

He said that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was no longer a union that represented the interests of the workers but interested in making more money.  

“NUM is not a union, it’s a company. They hold shares in mining companies, that is why when there are problems in the mines they are the first to sell out the workers.” 

The crowd dispersed peacefully after Malema’s address.  

A total of 34 people were killed in a shootout that erupted near the mine when police tried to disperse striking miners.

More than 78 people were injured.

Another 10 people had by then been killed in the violent protests at the mine over the previous week.

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Sun May 19 10:50:59 SAST 2013 ::

Aug 20, 2012

rollingdeep

#SIGH# @ Sowetan wts new???
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Aug 20, 2012

Memme

Juju is right - Police killed brothers, fathers and husbands, and for what???
This is really the end of the world - I mean what the hell is happening in this world?

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Aug 20, 2012

RobinH

Opportunistic and utterly irresponsible. We do noty require more militancy and less thought, you fat nincompoop!
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Aug 20, 2012

Debmann

Zuma is just a president wa go rata kuku, that the only thing he cares about. He does not qualify for his position
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Aug 20, 2012

SOLUTIONS

Unbelievable how sh!t can talk and walk, I wish malema was there when the bullets were flying and there was one with his name on.
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Aug 20, 2012

SOLUTIONS

Memme,

please tell us about the 10 other people who were brutally killed by these criminals that you want to protect now. 2 police officers hacked to death with pangas, security guards set a light and left to burn.

Since when do you go to an wage dispute with weapons, this is the problem, husbands, brothers, fathers that are to f*&king d.umb to go and do something in a civilized manner got just what they deserved.
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Aug 20, 2012

Ndese1

Malema is a attention seeker and this is another effort to be relevant to the South African politics.
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Aug 20, 2012

Bolander

Ndese1 - agreed! He's a political opportunist, i am sure that secretly he is elated that this happened, to give him another platform to spew his bile!
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Aug 20, 2012

Kgaoza606

This fu#kcin opportunist. Hw will resignation of president affect change in these workers disputes... Sometimes is better for one to just shut up if coz this Malema is just makin a fool of himself... U hate the president is fine, we dntt agree with most part of Zuma's leadership style but that doesn't mean everything must be blamed on him... Can't wait until the HAWKS and SARS nail this loud-mouth liar and crowd-craze opportunist...
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Aug 20, 2012

RobinH

Bolander. Exactly!
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