Petition to the SABC and e-tv: screen Miners’ Shot Down

With the second anniversary of the Marikana massacre approaching, members of the public and those affected by the tragedy are calling for a public screening of “Miners Shot Down”, a documentary by Rehad Desai.

On 16 August 2012, the South African Police Service opened fire on a crowd of striking mineworkers at Marikana, some 100km northwest of Johannesburg in the North West Province. The fateful event left 34 mineworkers dead, 78 wounded and more than 250 people were arrested. The protesting mineworkers were demanding a wage increase at the Lonmin platinum mine. The event was the biggest incident of police brutality since the dawn of democracy and it revived memories of brutality suffered under Apartheid security police

A petition will be delivered by amandla.mobi, an independent social justice organisation to the SABC and e-tv on the 16 August 2014, urging them to broadcast the documentary. Some of the content of the petition reads as follows:

“As the leaders of our free to air channel and public broadcaster you have a duty to screen content in the public interest. What happened in Marikana was South Africa's first post-Apartheid massacre and you have a responsibility to ensure the stories of Marikana miners are told. On the 16th August South Africans will gather on the anniversary of this national tragedy. We the undersigned demand that you schedule a screening of Miners Shot Down so that all South Africans have the opportunity to reflect on the lives lost, families impacted and together we as a nation can work to ensure this never happens again”

What you can do:

In order to support the cause, members of the public are urged to visit the website and sign the petition online.

If you could change the bottom to say, if you want to contact amandla.mobi, email Thuli at hola@amandla.mobi Email Koketso Moeti at koketso@vuka.me or Paul Mason at paul@vuka.me