Journo's account of shooting questioned

Kornhub

Kornhub

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Johannesburg - The credibility of an article suggesting miners in Marikana were shot at close range and driven over was extremely worrying, the Institute for Security Studies said on Friday.

"I find this story so wild in terms of its accusations and assumptions... it discredits the whole story," senior researcher Johan Burger said.

"I wouldn't want to comment on it. I don't want to give it any further credence."

Photojournalist Greg Marinovich on Thursday claimed - in an article published on the Daily Maverick website - that some of the striking workers killed at Lonmin's platinum mine appeared to have been shot at close range, or crushed by Nyala police vehicles.

On 16 August, 34 striking miners were shot dead in a confrontation with police trying to disperse them at the mine, in Marikana near Rustenburg in the North West. Another 78 were injured.

Marinovich, who scoured the crime scene at Marikana, wrote that most of those who died, according to the surviving strikers and researchers, were killed beyond the view of cameras at a collection of boulders about 300m behind Wonderkop.

According to Marinovich, the miners had no escape route and were shot at close range.

A surviving mineworker told him that as the men were coming down from the hill where they had gathered, the shooting began.

"We ran until we got to the meeting spot and watched the incidents at the koppie," the miner was quoted as saying.

"Two helicopters landed; soldiers and police surrounded the area. We never saw anyone coming out of the koppie."

The mineworker said injured miners, who he had visited in hospital, had been shot in the back, or had been run over by Nyalas.

Peter Alexander, professor of sociology at the University of Johannesburg, and two researchers, also interviewed witnesses.

According to Marinovich, a miner told researcher Botsong Mmope that miners who ran towards the koppie decided to lie down, thinking that if they did the police would not shoot them.

"At that time, there were bullets coming from a helicopter above them... He [the miner] says he watched Nyalas driving over the prostrate, living miners," Mmope was quoted as saying.

Burger said if there was any truth to these allegations he was sure the judicial commission of inquiry, appointed by President Jacob Zuma, would investigate this.

"Members of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate [IPID} were on the scene doing the necessary investigations. I am fairly happy that those guys treated the crime scene with the necessary professionalism. I wonder if the author [Marinovich] discussed this with the [IPID]?"

Burger said a high-profile IpPID delegation investigated the scene.

"I got the impression they sent a high-profile delegation and did everything possible to make sure it was properly handled."

IPID spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the directorate would not comment on the shooting or any allegations until its investigation was complete.

He said they would co-operate with the commission of inquiry and provide it with information.

- SAPA
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http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Journos-account-of-shooting-questioned-20120831
 
Nice to see someone else who read that crackpots "account" and went :wtf:... bunch of horseshyte that daft prats "account" was.
 
biometrics said:
We'll see. You weren't there so you don't know.
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You are correct, that was exactly the point I made about the Photographer, when I called it in the other thread.

I think that was right before I proved you to be a blatant liar and pwned you by providing copious evidence to show that your claims were completely bogus! ;)
 
Garyvdh said:
You are correct, that was exactly the point I made about the Photographer, when I called it in the other thread.

I think that was right before I proved you to be a blatant liar and pwned you by providing copious evidence to show that your claims were completely bogus! ;)
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Nonsense, you claimed they were shooting rubber bullets and teargassing "all day" which was shown to be a lie. Chill Gary, you're not always right.

Anyway, I'm not debating the likes of you, marine or killa. It's a waste of time.
 
biometrics said:
Nonsense, you claimed they were shooting rubber bullets and teargassing "all day" which was shown to be a lie. Chill Gary, you're not always right.
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Simply claiming that it was not that way when you were confronted with link after link showing that they were not only doing it "all that day" but had been doing it "all that week" just shows that you are not actually interested in facts, but have stubbornly refused to acknowledge reality, but persist rather in your own mental fantasy of the events of that week.

biometrics said:
Anyway, I'm not debating the likes of you, marine or killa. It's a waste of time.
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Cos, you keep getting pwned and proven wrong? Hey, it's OK. I can understand how that would upset your little apple cart. ;)
 
figures that he'd come out and trash it

Dr Johan Burger joined the ISS Tshwane (Pretoria office) in August 2006 as a Senior Researcher in the Crime and Justice Programme. He served in the South African Police Service for 36 years, the last 9 years as an Assistant Commissioner and Head of Operational Coordination at police head office in Pretoria. In May 2004 he took early retirement from the police to join the Tshwane University of Technology as a Senior Lecturer in Policing. Johan holds a B Iuris degree, BA (Hons) in Strategic Studies, MA (Strategic Studies) and a D Tech in Policing and has also completed a number of training / development courses both in South Africa and abroad. In 2011 he was appointed as a Professor Extraordinarius in the Department of Police Practice at the University of South Africa.
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Hey, look who does the "questioning" :D I wonder if the "questioner" will also try to discredit prof. Alexander's findings. WTF
 
i watched this dude on carte blanche last night and all i can say is...........what a load of codswallop. first of all he wasn't at the scene when the shooting happened. there were a few journalists actually filming the incident and this should give a more accurate account than what he was trying to claim. he then went on to say that he wasn't a forensic investigator and couldn't comment on some things. how, on god's green earth, can he make claims like this. he walks around taking photo's of all the markings and comes to his own deluded conclusion.

if this country were to take note of some idiot like this, then we're in trouble. the forensic investigators have had years of training and he comes along and says this is how it happened because of his photo's.
 
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