Nine years after the Marikana massacre, the sister of the most famous victim, Mgcineni “Mambush” Noki, the “man in the green blanket”, says families will never be happy until the policemen who pulled the triggers are behind bars.
Nolufefe Noki, 40, wants to see the government take responsibility for the 2012 death of the 34 striking miners, including her beloved brother.
For almost a decade the families have been calling for justice.
Tears rolled down Noki’s face as she sat in her brother’s home at Mqanduli as she recalled the trauma of his death.
Today marks the ninth commemoration of the massacre, one of the darkest days in recent SA history. Two huge portraits of Mambush dominate the home, one on the the dining room and one on the passage wall.
“The quest for truth and justice shall set you free” is emblazoned on the portrait and reflected in the glass table where Noki sits as she reflects on the day her brother, the family breadwinner, was murdered.
“All we want is justice to be served and the killers of my brother jailed. My heart is broken when I see this portrait and see the policemen armed with a rifle ready to murder my brother and his colleagues.
“You can see the faces of the killers, and one can easily identify them. Where are they from or who are they, the men who pulled the triggers? But 10 years since the massacre they are roaming the streets and still work for SAPS with hands dripping in the blood of the likes of Mambush and many others.
“The killers must be arrested and we must have closure. No amount of money can close that wound. We have seen the commanders arrested and set freed. As we see it now, nobody is found responsible for the massacre and that is an insult and wounding to the family.”
Noki lives in Mambush’s home in Thwalikhulu village in Mqanduli.
“This was more than massacre, but the NPA are not doing anything to ensure justice. This is bizarre,” Noki said.
Mambush’s widow, Noluvuyo Mathapelo Lekoetje-Noki, 40, said although the massacre was nine years ago, “it is as if happened just yesterday. I wish August 16 would not come, that the date would be erased from the calendar as it brings nothing but sorrow and agony, fear and anger. It reminds us of all questions and no answers. It reminds me how brutally my husband was killed.”
When Mambush died, his youngest child, a daughter, was two years old.
“My daughter is growing up not knowing her father. All she hears is that he was brutally killed while fighting for a salary increase,” Lekoetje-Noki says.
Mambush is buried in the garden outside his home.
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