3. The Marikana Killings
Timeline of a Tragedy

5. 9 - 11 August 2012
A number of employees from Lonmin Mine go on strike
demanding a wage increase.
Employees who turn up for duty report incidents of
intimidation and assault. Two employees are shot and taken to
hospital for treatment.
Faction fights occur. Reports of three more employees, shot in
the hostels in separate incidents, surface.

7. 12 – 13 August 2012
Five employees are shot and taken to hospital while others
are assaulted.
Two mine security officers are hacked to death by
protesters and their vehicles torched.
Striking workers infiltrate production areas, assaulting
three on duty employees, fatally wounding one and
torching six motor vehicles at the plant.

9. 12 - 13 August 2012
Three dead bodies of mine workers are found.
SAPS members are attacked while escorting the
protesters.
Two SAPS members are hacked to death, one critically
wounded.
Three protesters are fatally wounded in police
response to the attack.

11. 15 August 2012
Mineral Resources Minister, Susan Shabangu says she is
“gravely concerned” about the violent protests at
Marikana.
Police and striking mineworkers attempt to negotiate a
truce with miners on a hill which had become a gathering
point for the mineworkers near the Lonmin mine.

12. 16 August 2012
Police open fire on miners, leaving 34 dead and 78
wounded. More than 250 people were arrested.
Lonmin says it has lost six days or 15 000 ounces of
platinum at Marikana and is unlikely to meet its full-year
production target of 750 000 ounces.

13. 17 August 2012
National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega
confirms that 34 people were killed at Marikana, 78 were
injured and 259 were arrested.
President Jacob Zuma leaves the SADC summit in
Mozambique to visit the site of the massacre.

14. 23 August 2012
The Marikana Commission of Inquiry is appointed by
President Jacob Zuma to investigate events arising out of
the tragic incidents at the Lonmin Mine in Marikana.
The country observes a national day of mourning.

16. 30 August 2012
Authorities charge the 270 arrested workers with the
murder of their colleagues shot on 16 August.
The charges are later withdrawn.

19. 18 September 2012
Workers at Marikana secure pay increases of between 11
and 22%, and agree to end the strike.

20. 1 October 2012
The Marikana Commission of Inquiry into the 16 August
killings opens in Rustenburg.