Julius Malema, expelled leader of South Africa's ANC Youth League, and his former party held their own memorial service near the venue for the planned government memorial service for the deceased South African miners. Well attended by mourners and by families of the deceased, the South Africa mining incident is quickly becoming a political battle, with public criticism growing against the government's handling of it. Malema, who was expected to speak at the service, had criticized the government and President Jacob Zuma after the violence that saw 34 workers killed, 78 wounded, and 259 arrested.

On Tuesday, Malema also led miners to a police station to open a murder case against the policemen who opened fire on the striking miners. 27% of those Lonmin employees returned to work after the company demanded that they give up their pursuit of making higher wages. The tragedy and violence began unfolding a week ago when the miners went on strike demanding a 300 per cent pay rise at the mine in Marikana, near Rustenburg, about two hours northwest of Johannesburg.