Mining is what keeps the wheels of Welkom turning. Together with Alanridge and Virginia, it forms the second richest gold mining area in the country. The city is young and growing. It is surrounded by rural Free State towns like Brandfort, Odendaalsrus and Kroonstad, traditional farming communities. It is a working class area where the changes that have swept the rest of South Africa have barely shaken long-established ways. This week in Welkom people came to the Truth Commission to speak out the pain caused by the divisions in their part of the world. Patrick Morake and a friend were driving to Bloemfontein when his car was attacked near Brandfort by white Afrikaans speaking men wearing khaki clothes. He is convinced that the men who shot at him and his friend were ‘wit wolwe.’
WELKOM
MAGDELINE NELANE, LEEKO MOLEKE, JOSIAS MOAGO MONOKOANE, JOSEPH MOGATLE, LITABE THAELE, MALETSATSI SANGWENI, PULANE MUTSI, EPHRAIM THAHETSI, SEIPATI SUSAN MOROANE, PATRICK MORAKE, ISIAH PULE NKATE, THASHIMA GLORIA DIPPA, PULENG DIPPA
