Last Friday, Khayelitsha residents expressed their shock after they watched the documentary “Miners Shot Down”, which is about the Marikana Massacre, at the Peace Centre in Ilitha Park.
Pupils, parents and others in attendance were astonished at the kind of brutality that the documentary showed. Many didn’t believe that the Marikana documentary was a true story and couldn’t understand why the miners were shot by police and why those in leadership did not protect the protesters.
It has been six years since the Marikana Massacre, in which 17 protesters were killed and several others injured when police opened fire on them during a wage protest.
“I don’t know what to say, I can’t help but feel angry at those who are supposed to protect us, according to the documentary the people protesting didn’t do anything to harm the police but who gave orders to shoot the miners”, said a pupil from Bulumko.
Pretty Swartbooi, a parent from Litha Park, said while she had heard about Marikana, she didn’t know much about it. Lubabalo Tose, who was angry after the screening, added: “Why can’t we watch these things on television so that we know the truth instead of hearing things from the political parties? We are more than 30 people sitting here but none of us has seen thi. Imagine now how many people in South Africa don’t know the truth about current issues.” The community feel that people are not aware of things that are happening around them and that there are no platforms where they can engage and debate issues without the influence and agendas of political parties getting in the way.Peace Centre (former known as Ncedanani Information Hub ) which is based in Litha Park strives to conscientised the community on current issues and create a platform of sharing information.
The Centre is open Monday to Friday for access to information sharing and internet. Every Friday at 1pm there are interesting engagement platforms taking place and the community of Khayelitsha is welcomed.