Local residents and mourning family members gather at a memorial service for 44 miners killed during a strike at a platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa.<br/> <br />Politicians and religious leaders also joined the service.<br/> <br />Earlier on Thursday relatives of the miners went to the scene of what is being called the Marikana massacre.<br/> <br />One man who lost his two children in the clashes held the government and the mining company responsible for failing to protect the workers.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Xhosa) FAMILY MEMBER WHO LOST TWO CHILDREN, BABA GOLOZA:<br/> <br />"We are very, very hurt. I have also worked in the mines. I'm now retired, but we have never seen anything like this, killing children who have not done anything wrong. They haven't done anything wrong; they did not deserve to be killed like that."<br/> <br />Ten people had been killed at the mine days before police opened fire on striking miners last week, killing 34.<br/> <br />The violence was the worst such bloodshed in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.
