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  Reporters from City Press and Media24 Investigations team traveled across South Africa to tell the stories and put faces to those who died in the Lonmin mine shooting and events leading up to the tragedy at Marikana in the North West. See the full report here.
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  Bongani Nqongophele’s wife was so distraught at news of his death that she tried to take her own life by drinking a pesticide. Nosipho Ntonga, Bongani’s sister-in-law, said: “His wife couldn’t take the news. She is so weak right now. She tried to commit suicide….” Nqongophele had been working at Lonmin for a year as a driller after leaving his sparsely populated village near Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape. There he had married his wife Nombulelo in 2008 and the couple were devoted to each other.
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  Van Wyk Sagalala was supposed to have married his long-time fiancee, Kedineetse Lydia Mohutsane (49), this month. “I’m hurting, I don’t even know what to say about this loss,” she said at his funeral last Saturday, held in the village of Setlagole, outside Mahikeng, North West. “We had been together for three years. He was easygoing and always kept order in the house.” She last spoke to the father of two, who worked as an equiper at Lonmin’s Karee mine shortly before he was killed.
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  Matlhomola Mabelane was on leave when he was killed, allegedly by striking miners. The security guard at Lonmin’s Karee mine had been called in by his bosses to help as the uprising at the mine began, his weeping 83-year-old mother said this week. According to reports at the time, Mabelane was burned to death alongside his colleague, Hassan Fundi that Saurday, and mine officials only discovered their bodies the following Monday.
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  Telang Vitalis Mohai (37), had come home to Lithoteng village, Ha-Pita, near Maseru, Lesotho to visit his family. He had spent a long month away earning a living at Lonmin mine near Rustenburg, where he was employed as a general production hand.
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  Thabile Mpumza had not been working for Lonmin for nearly a year by the time he was shot dead. His family say he only joined the protest after the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) promised to help him get his job back. Mpumza, from the village of Mvalweni, near Mount Ayliff, was his family’s sole breadwinner. He supported his own one-year-old baby, his siblings, as well as their children, aged between seven and 13.
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  His first name was Stelega, a word Swazi language speakers stole from English to describe a strike. Ironic, then, that Stelega Eric Gadlela (50) was shot by police during a strike by miners at Marikana. Gadlela hailed from the rural village of Dvokolwako, about 60km from the city of Manzini, Swaziland. The father of 11 children, aged between four and 28, was his large family’s sole breadwinner.
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  Thabiso Mosebetsane’s 74-year-old mother still feels physical pain following the shock of being told that her son was shot dead by police at Marikana. Mosebetsane said her son was in his fifties and his death had left three of his four children orphaned.
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  Bongani Mdza would have started building his house last week. Instead, he was buried in his home village of Jabavu, near the Eastern Cape town of Matatiele. His sister, MmaTshepo Letshaba, said Mdza had told her he would soon be taking his month-long leave to begin building his home on a plot he bought next to her house.
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  Khanare Monesa was looking forward to the birth of his first born child in three months. The birth of the child would also coincide with his first wedding anniversary. But these dreams were shattered by a bullet to the left side of his head.
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  Mgcineni Noki, from Thwalikhulu in Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape, was “The Man in the Green Blanket". Noki, although at the time his identity not known, was a prominent leader known only by the green blanket which he wore about his shoulders and featured in television footage leading up to the shooting of 34 miners at Marikana.
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  Nkosiyabo Xalabile, 31, worked side-by-side with his younger brother, Mandlenkosi, 25, at the Lonmin mine. The two brothers are from Manganyela in Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape where Mandlenkosi fondly remembers his older brother as someone he could always talk to, always depend on and who would always protect him.
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  Fezile Saphendu, 23, left his quiet village of Kwayimani in Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape two years ago to find work in the mine. “He was such a hard-working boy. He passed so well in grade 12 but unfortunately he didn’t have the money to study further, that’s why he decided to go work at that mine,” said his sister-in-law, Noingilane Saphendu. Fezile was a “people person” who always had advice for others. “He wanted to become a social worker. He would have been very good at it.
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  Ntandazo Nokhamba, 36, had been a machine operator at the Lonmin mine since 2006 before a bullet took his life. Back at his home village of Ngcolorha in Libode in the Eastern Cape his uncle, Madaka Nokhamba, remembers a traditional man who respected customs and behaviour.
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  “My son was very young, that’s all I know,” said Nosajini Mabiya, the heartbroken mother of Mafolisi Mabiya. Nosajini said her son’s main priority was to build their home, currently a two-roomed mud rondavel and a half-finished flatlet.
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  Bonginkosi Yawa was a 32-year-old rock drill operator who had worked at the Lonmin mine for just over two years before he was killed. Baby Mihle Yona, only 21 days old, suckles on his mother in Maqhusha village near Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape not knowing that he will grow up without a father.
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  Babalo Mtshazi’s sisters are so sad they cannot bring themselves to even talk about their brother. “This has really torn them up inside,” said Nozipho Mtshazi, their mother. Babalo was one of six children. The 26-year-old miner left Nkanga Junior Secondary School in grade seven when he became aware that his mother and siblings were struggling to make ends meet. He headed for the mines leaving behind his love of athletics at which he excelled.
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  Nonkululeko Zibambele holds dearly onto the last memory she has of her husband – giving him a warm bath at his two-roomed shack near Lonmin’s Marikana mine a little over a month ago. Nonkululeko had visited Thobisile from the couple’s home in the Eastern Cape and recalls that at the time of her visit Thobisile, a staunch Pirates fan, had been celebrating his team’s win over fierce rivals Kaizer Chiefs during the Carling Black Label Cup in July.
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  Semi Jokanisi was a step away from taking his place as a married man in the Nqaqhumbe community in Lusikisiki, Transkei, when the tragedy of Marikana stole his dreams. Semi, 29 and a winch operator at Lonmin, had started lobola negotiations to bring a wife to his newly built house and had promised his father, Goodman, that he would complete the arrangements by his 30th birthday in December.
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  Phumzile Sokhanyile, 48, was so loved by his family that his mother collapsed and died when she heard that he had been killed at Marikana. Sokhanyile had many nicknames in Mdumazulu village in the Transkei but most remember him as uMshumayeli (“The Preacher”) who would grab every opportunity at a funeral to stand and quote Bible verses.
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  The family of Mzukisi Sompeta from the dirt-poor kwaDiki village in the Lusikisiki district of the Eastern Cape was expecting him to soon return home as usual bearing gifts. Instead the last time they saw him was when they buried him last Saturday. Sompeta, a 37-year-old rock drill operator, died at Marikana and, like many who fell with him, his passing leaves a chasm in his rural roots and home.
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  Mvuyisi Pato sweated on the mines to help give his sister a better life as he chipped in every month to assist his parents pay for her fees at Fort Hare University in Alice in the Eastern Cape. The 35-year-old Mvuyisi was born in Mbhobheni village in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape and his death has left both his parents with no idea where they will get the extra money they need to get their daughter through her second year studies.
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  After years of struggling in the streets of Cape Town doing odd jobs Mphumzeni Ngxande finally got a break in 2008 when he packed his bags and went to work as a mineworker for Lonmin in North West. Ngxande, 38, was born in Lujizweni village in Ngqeleni, 20 km outside of Mthatha, but life was tough and there were no jobs for him there.
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  In the small Transkei village of Nquba in the Ngqeleni district, Mphangeli Thukuza had a big reputation. He was a respected Pondo man with two wives and six children who live in a beautiful home in the village. Local men speak of the 42-year-old Thukuza’s charm and smooth talking – especially when it came to women.
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  Makhosandile Mkhonjwa toiled in the mines to realise his one dream: to build his family a beautiful home in Madiba village in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape. The 29-year-old Mkhonjwa cared for a family of 10 people including his two children who are still at school. His wife, Nokwanela Phakathi, said he was going to build a house for the family – including his mother – as their traditional rondavels could no longer withstand heavy rains and extreme weather.
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  Anele Mdizeni, 29, from Cwede near Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape, had an upbringing where laughter was treasured. With his death the family gathered in a rondavel, lit only with a single candle, made jokes and decided to remember only the good times they enjoyed with him in his short life.
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  Read the full stories of the victims of the Lonmin tragedy here.

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