South Africa's government and ruling African National Congress (ANC) party said they were staying away from an event marking the first anniversay of the killings of 34 striking platinum miners shot dead by police.
The decision revealed political splits and tensions still surrounding the so-called "Marikana Massacre", which was the bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Explaining the decision, an ANC spokesman accused a grouping that includes the anti-ANC AMCU miners' union of "hijacking" the memorial event planned at the Lonmin Marikana mine site, which is expected to draw a crowd of several thousand.
The Marikana support group organisers of the event also include a well-known churchman and lawyer representing the families of the Marikana victims.
"People are taking advantage of a tragedy for their own political benefit," ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi told Reuters.
The disaster drew comparisons with the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the 1976 Soweto uprising, but this has been bitterly described as the first “democratic massacre”.
The police were serving a black majority government and defending the interests of London-based mining company Lonmin in the world’s richest platinum belt.
“Never did we believe that our government would turn their guns on our people in such a brutal and callous fashion,” said the Marikana massacre anniversary organising committee on the workers’ behalf.
To date no police officer has been charged, labour relations are in crisis and killings continue in Marikana. There is simmering frustration at justice denied and fear of more bloodshed.
Reuters/Guardian