OPINION
Any good disaster communications knowledgeable will inform you that if you’re the chief govt of a significant company, an important rules are to talk shortly, be trustworthy, be accountable, finish the hurt, present management and be empathetic.
Cyril Ramaphosa was not the chief govt of South Africa when the Marikana tragedy occurred in 2012. But he’s the President now.
His position within the capturing was as a non-executive director of Lonmin, the corporate that owned the Marikana mine on the time, which has subsequently been purchased by Sibanye Stillwater.
This week, because the nation’s media descended on the platinum belt for the annual commemoration of the August occasion, a lot has been written and mentioned in regards to the notion of an apology from President Ramaphosa.
Numerous Marikana widows had been quoted, interesting to President Ramaphosa and his authorities to be remorseful and apologise for what happened to their husbands through the massacre ten years ago.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) mentioned Marikana will stay a no-go zone for President Cyril Ramaphosa till he apologises to the households who misplaced family members through the bloodbath.
An legal professional for these miners who had been wounded and arrested throughout that episode mentioned exterior courtroom this week that they had been hoping their civil go well with for nearly R1bn in compensation ends with an apology from Ramaphosa. According to Business Day, they’re searching for an unconditional apology from Ramaphosa and an endeavor that he’ll take part in a reconciliatory course of with them.
In actuality, what we noticed in Marikana this week is an space that continues to be a no-go zone, not just for the President however for all ANC representatives, and that the capturing continues to be closely politicised. The thought of Ramaphosa carrying the only accountability for apologising is a politically handy narrative for these searching for to discredit him.
It is true that Marikana stays a definite blight on Ramaphosa’s legacy. It will all the time be a stain on his profession. But extra so now that he’s President. Had he not develop into the primary civil servant within the nation, it is probably going his position wouldn’t proceed to dominate the discourse round this difficulty in the best way that it does. Instead blame can be primarily aimed toward these nonetheless in workplace like Minister Nathi Mthethwa who was police minister on the time. Or the ANC. Or authorities on the whole.
As policing knowledgeable David Bruce has set out here, the police management should even be held accountable. They knew bloodshed was probably, and but South Africa’s police commanders launched their operation towards hanging miners anyway. It is all the time essential to level out the context and local weather during which the August 16 capturing occurred and to keep in mind that ten different folks died too, together with law enforcement officials and safety guards.
What then ought to Ramaphosa apologise for?
Central to this is able to be his accountability in sending a collection of emails to Lonmin board members and authorities officers the day earlier than the capturing which was detailed on the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.
“They are plainly dastardly criminals and must be characterised as such,” Ramaphosa mentioned in a single e-mail describing the actions of miners. In one other, he known as for “concomitant action to address this situation”. Crucially, he additionally labored towards negotiations between unions and Lonmin administration and pushed for extra pointed motion from the police. These emails have over the previous decade been interpreted in numerous methods – some would argue the political strain he exerted led to the bloodshed. Others would say he didn’t give a direct order for the officers to open hearth.
The Farlam Commission discovered that Ramaphosa was not the reason for the bloodbath. The report discovered: “There is no basis for the commission to find even on a prima facie basis that Mr Ramaphosa is guilty of the crimes he is alleged to have committed.”
Ramaphosa, like every good CEO, might have come out on the Tenth-anniversary commemoration and apologised to the folks of Marikana. But which will nicely have been a hole apology. In order for it to be genuine and to be welcomed and accepted, Ramaphosa must be remorseful and genuinely settle for accountability for his position.
Up till now, it has been clear that he doesn’t imagine he has something to apologise for.
In April 2018, on the funeral of Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Ramaphosa made a dedication that he would honour a promise he made to her, that he would go and go to the widows of these killed within the capturing. He mentioned she had informed him on her eightieth birthday that she would take him and EFF chief Julius Malema to go and go to Marikana.
“We could not go because you were not well. You are gone now. I am left to go alone. But I will be guided by your spirit,” Ramaphosa mentioned. “And I know that Julius Malema will go with me so that we can go and heal the wounds of the Marikana widows.”
The tenth anniversary would have been an ideal alternative for Ramaphosa to pay such a go to, however he would have identified that any such go to must embody a real and genuine apology which he might not have been ready to make.
In 2017, Ramaphosa went midway to saying sorry. He apologised for the way during which the Marikana bloodbath unfolded, saying he was sorry for the kind of language he used on the time in e-mails despatched to authorities officers.
One SA Movement chief Mmusi Maimane informed the gang in Marikana this week that Ramaphosa would without end be generally known as Mr Concomitant, a reference to the phrases in his emails despatched the day earlier than the tragedy.
What is clear this week is that Ramaphosa has missed a chance to go to the widows and to authentically apologise. But authorities’s lack of ability to actually present any sort of regret is extra clearly displayed in its abject failure to vary the circumstances and circumstances of those that dwell within the shadow of this tragedy. They proceed to dwell in poverty, forgotten, aside from one week in August yearly.
Ramaphosa might not need to apologise for authorized causes. He might fear that an acknowledgment of guilt will make him culpable and open him to litigation.
He might not need to apologise for political causes. It is in spite of everything an ANC election 12 months and his critics would seize on the chance to discredit him though this difficulty clearly doesn’t rely towards him inside his celebration.
Or he might not really feel that he’s certainly accountable in any respect. That maybe is probably the most life like cause he has not mentioned sorry.
Mandy Wiener is a journalist, creator, and presenter of The Midday Report on 702 and CapeTalk.