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We, the women of Marikana, have won a decisive victory against the Rustenburg and Madibeng Municipalities, which have twice banned our planned peaceful march against the Marikana police station. The High Court has ruled in our favour, setting aside the prohibition by the municipalities and telling us that we have the right to march. Our march is to protest the police violence in Marikana, which has led to the death and injury of many dozens of members of our community. We feel unsafe and scared in our communities and this is because of the police, who have behaved like criminals.

Our first effort to march was on Saturday 22nd September, and following an unlawful prohibition by the Madibeng municipality, we notified to march on Saturday 29 September. The Madibeng and Rustenburg municipalities conspired, together with the Marikana Police Captain and North-West police, to prohibit our march for a second time. We had followed all legal requirements of the Gatherings Act, and had made every effort to cooperate with the authorities, but confronted bureaucratic confusion, obstruction and unlawful conduct by officials of the two municipalities and the police at every turn.

Following the second banning, we briefed our lawyers to take the matter for a review decision by the High Court. Following ten hours of legal argument, the Court vindicated us by overturning the unlawful prohibition of the march by the two municipalities. The Court has confirmedwhat we already know – that we have the right to march! We will continue with the march, along the route that we have planned, to the Marikana police station to protest police violence and brutality.

We are deeply disturbed by the authorities’ interference with our right to assemble, by the unlawful decisions of the municipalities, by the attitude of officials and police to our right to assemble, and by the undue influence of the police in the notification procedures outlined in terms of the Gatherings Act.

We believe that the North West police have placed a blanket ban on all protests and marches in the wider Rustenburg area. The Judicial Commission begins its work on Tuesday 2nd October and it is important that it be conducted in a spirit that is open and which listens to our voices, if we are going to trust in its outcomes. We must have our right to assemble and express respected by the authorities and we call on the Commission to support the creation of this necessary climate.

We know that other communities across the country experience the same problems as us when it comes to our democratic and constitutionally protected rights to assemble and express. We condemn this regular prohibition and banning of our legitimate protests. This is not the democracy we all fought for!

We march for justice for the death of our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers at the hands of the police. We march for justice for the death of Paulina Masuthlo, our sister, who died on the 19th September, a few days after she was shot with rubber bullets by the police. We march for justice for the shooting of three other women with rubber bullets on Saturday 15th September.

We have had enough of the violence, and the fear and the criminality of the police. We want justice and we want to restore our community and our homes to places of safety. This can only happen when the police fully withdraw from Marikana, and when the police are held to account for their violent and unlawful actions.


WE MARCH TO CONDEMN BRUTALITY AND CALL FOR JUSTICE FOR MARIKANA!