Marikana Shootings Farlam Commission Thread

Phiyega Worried over Police Killings

The number of police officers killed on duty is a worry, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega told the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.

"We recognise the fact that policing is not an easy task... especially when you have to confront criminals," Phiyega told the commission sitting in Centurion.

Advocate Louis Gumbi, representing the Police and Prisons' Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and warrant officer Sello Lepaku's family, started his cross-examination of Phiyega shortly after 10am on Tuesday.

Striking Lonmin mineworkers hacked Lepaku to death on August 13.

Gumbi was focusing on the killing of officers and the fact that 82 officers were killed in the country in the last financial year.

He questioned the commissioner over the conditions police faced when dealing with protests.

Phiyega told the commission that there were protests where the circumstances led officers into vulnerable situations.

She said she recognised that as a result of confrontation with criminals, officers experienced "a lot of trauma", adding that steps had been taken to counsel officers and to train them to be better equipped for such situations.

Gumbi said Lepaku had been an officer for 23 years and had no disciplinary action against him.

"The qualities Lepaku had, are these not the qualities of a good officer? Are these not the types of officers you need in your service?" he asked Phiyega.

She responded: "You are very right."

On Thursday, advocate Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners, finished weeks of cross-examination of Phiyega.

Mpofu accused Phiyega of being deceitful in accepting her commanders' reasons why the police plan at Marikana resulted in deaths. He said she failed to properly investigate claims that the police planted weapons on some of the miners after shooting them.

Phiyega dismissed the criticism as invalid and said one of the experts she appointed to investigate was a top detective, and that she had accepted his report.

The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin Platinum's mine in Marikana, North West, in August last year.

Gumbi indicated that Popcru would withdraw from the commission once he finished cross-examining Phiyega.

The hearing continues.


Source : Sapa /dm/fg/ad/th
Date : 11 Jun 2013 12:49
 
Two Marikana Cops Committed Suicide: Phiyega

Two of the police officers deployed to Marikana in August have committed suicide, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said on Tuesday.

"From the Marikana lot we had something like two suicides that come out of members who were involved," she told the Farlam Commission of Inquiry in Centurion.

"Looking at the raw numbers... I am aware that in 2010 we had 97 suicides, in 2011 we had 85, and in 2012 we had 116 suicides."

Phiyega was being cross-examined by Louis Gumbi, for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union.

He is also acting for the family of Warrant Officer Sello Lepaku. Striking Lonmin miners hacked him to death on August 13 last year.

Gumbi said low-ranking police officers had high levels of stress and often turned to alcohol. Officers were also inclined to commit suicide.

Phiyega responded: "I note that and this is why our employee health and well-being also focuses on things such as emotional competence and development."

Reading from a speech by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Gumbi said 10,636 officers suffered from depression, and 2763 from post-traumatic stress disorder. There had also been many attempted suicides.

"So, given those figures, national commissioner, would you agree with me that you cannot exclude the possibility that some of the police officers that were deployed at Marikana... some of them, it's possible that they were suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, given these figures?" Gumbi asked Phiyega.

"I wouldn't be able to attest or not attest to that because we didn't make that assessment," she replied.

Phiyega said the police had a number of psychologists and other professionals on hand to attend to officers in debriefings.

The current police-to-population ratio is one to 306.

Gumbi said most of the police officers who shot at Marikana miners on August 16 were low-ranking officers, leading to their high levels of stress.

Thirty-four striking mineworkers were shot dead and 78 wounded when police fired on them while trying to disperse a group which had gathered on a hill near the mine. In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and security guards, were killed.

Earlier, Phiyega said she was worried about the number of police officers killed on duty.

"We recognise the fact that policing is not an easy task... especially when you have to confront criminals," she said.

Gumbi focused on the killing of officers and the fact that 82 officers were killed in the country in the last financial year.

She said as a result of confrontations with criminals, officers experienced "a lot of trauma". Steps had been taken to counsel officers and train them to be better equipped for such situations.

The hearing continues.


Source : Sapa /dm/hdw/jk/th
Date : 11 Jun 2013 15:14
 
Farlam questions Phiyega

National police chief Riah Phiyega was questioned at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday about two differing statements she made after the shooting at Marikana last year

"Did you notice the change in language?" asked the commission's chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam.

Phiyega responded: "For the external statement to the public, we were trying to avoid being too specific...."

Farlam was referring to an internal police statement sent to President Jacob Zuma and a media statement Phiyega made after the police shot dead 34 striking miners while trying to disperse them on August 16.

Farlam said that in the statement sent to Zuma, Phiyega had pointed out the two scenes where protesters were shot, but had mentioned only one scene in the media statement.

Phiyega said when she made the public statement the numbers and other information were not known.

"The internal one, we knew it was internal," she said.

Asked whether she had noticed the differences between the statements before she addressed the media, Phiyega said: "Judge, they were not simple statements.

"This one [the media statement], I knew that I was facing the world and I actually needed to be even more cautious in terms of how I put my language."

She said the difference between the statements had not been her point of focus, and that the roles of the statements had been different.

Phiyega said the internal statement needed to inform Zuma what was happening, so he could decide whether to return from Mozambique.

Asked again why the statements differed, Phiyega told Farlam the focal points of the statements were different.

Farlam said she was not answering his question of who was responsible for the differences.

She responded: "At the end of the day judge, I read the statement.... I had to say I am comfortable with the statement as it was written."

Farlam responded: "Your statements were misleading the public into thinking that what they saw on the TV at scene one was the end of the killings.... The responsibility of that misleading is yours?"

Phiyega said there was never any intentional misleading.

"Judge, I do not think there was never an intention of misleading anyone," she said.

Phiyega wrapped up her evidence at the commission on Tuesday afternoon.

The commission is probing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin Platinum's mine in Marikana, North West, in August.

The hearing resumes on Thursday.


Source : Sapa /dm/hdw/clh
Date : 11 Jun 2013 18:35
 
Cops tried to avoid Bloodshed

Police wanted union leaders to convince striking miners in Marikana to disarm and disperse to avoid bloodshed, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.

"I persuaded union leaders to talk to the strikers at the koppie [hill] to get them to hand in their weapons voluntarily instead of police doing the dispersal," testified North West police deputy provincial commissioner, General William Mpembe.

"We wanted to avoid bloodshed... when police do dispersals they do not use sharp ammunition, but armed individuals among strikers might use them against the police."

Vuyani Ngalwana, for the police, was taking Mpembe through his evidence on events that led to the deaths of 44 people during the unrest at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana in August.

Mpembe told the commission that police had agreed with union leaders on August 15 that they speak to protesters at the hill and get them to hand over their arms and disperse.

The union leaders were National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) president Senzeni Zokwana and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa.

He said he had held two separate meetings with Zokwana and Mathunjwa to that effect.

Provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Zukiswa Mbombo was informed about the plan and agreed.

Ngalwana asked Mpembe what changed on the morning of August 16, the day police shot dead 34 miners. Mpembe said "things completely changed" and negotiations with strikers through the two union leaders failed.

"I did testify that people were being attacked, robbed, and killed on their way to work... there was [a] risk of further killings. Talks between employers and employees failed."

The information he received was that the situation at the hill had changed "to the worst", he said.

"Another person, whose name I cannot reveal for safety reasons, was also left for dead at the koppie," Ngalwana said, adding that evidence by this individual would be presented to the commission soon.

"We will for now, refer to him as Mr Y," he said.

Mpembe said it was feared that the seemingly angry protesters at the koppie would turn their frustrations on innocent bystanders.

Information received through police radio communications indicated there were threats to kill police officers, he said.

"These were the factors I considered, because as police, we have a constitutional mandate to prevent crime," Mpembe stated.

Ngalwana asked him if he had received any information about Mathunjwa telling protesters to lay down their weapons on August 16. Mpembe said he was not at the hill on the morning of August 16, adding that the report he received was that Mathunjwa had told the protesters to leave the hill.

Ngalwana then read out Mathunjwa's statement to the commission, in which he said he had told workers to leave, because if they did not, police were going to kill them. He stated that Amcu did not subscribe to any acts of criminality.

"Mathunjwa says, 'I knelt down... it has already been decided... please leave this place. Some workers came to the microphone and said they were shot by NUM officials as they marched to the union offices'."

Mathunjwa had said workers told him they appreciated his efforts and that he should leave, as the employers would not speak to the strikers and the police should come and kill them.

Mpembe said according to information he received, there was nothing in what Mathunjwa told protesters that indicated he asked them to lay down their weapons, as Mathunjwa had promised in the meeting held the previous day.


Source : Sapa /gm/hdw/ad/jk/th
Date : 13 Jun 2013 14:15
 
I took the Marikana Decision: Mpembe

North West deputy police chief William Mpembe took the decision to disperse protesters at a hill in Marikana, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.

"I briefed provincial commissioner Lt Gen Mbombo, who later called a task team meeting," Mpembe told the commission, sitting in Centurion, Pretoria.

"Different commanders also gave feedback on what had been happening on that morning of August 16. The decision to implement the dispersal was agreed upon at that meeting."

The decision to disperse the strikers, also known as "stage three", led to police shooting dead 34 protesters on that day.

Mpembe said an intelligence report was presented at the meeting. He said he had, before the meeting, briefed Mbombo that the situation at the koppie at Marikana, where striking Lonmin miners had gathered, changed "for the worst". Negotiations through union leaders also failed.

Police did not seem to have a clear indication of whether Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa told protesters to lay down their weapons and disperse, as he undertook to do in a meeting the previous day.

Commission chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, asked Mpembe who took the decision to disperse protesters.

"Who bears the ultimate responsibility for this decision?... Is it you or the provincial commissioner?"

Mpembe said as Mbombo's deputy, he would have to brief his superior before implementing any decision.

"I took a decision, briefed her, and she agreed."

The commission is probing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West, in August.


Source : Sapa /gm/hdw/ad/th
Date : 13 Jun 2013 15:46
 
Commission adjourned for the long weekend

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry probing the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin Platinum's mine at Marikana in August last year was adjourned on Friday, SABC radio reported.

The commission, sitting in Centurion, would resume on Tuesday.

On Friday, North West deputy police chief William Mpembe told the commission arrested miners were taken to premises offered by Lonmin for processing because the Marikana police station was undergoing renovations.

Mpembe said there was no electricity at the police station, and the police decided to use the facility offered by Lonmin.

The inquiry heard on Thursday that the police were told about the danger they would face at a hill in Marikana during the mining unrest.

Vuyani Ngalwana, for the police, read a statement by Warrant Officer Rapheso Masenya to North West deputy police commissioner General William Mpembe.

Masenya was part of the operations on August 16 and recorded events with a video camera.

In his statement, Masenya said he and his team were told by Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa not to get close to the protesters because they would get hurt.

Captain Dennis Adriao had told Masenya and his team: "You are being identified as police spies and you should withdraw from this place as miners said they would kill you."

Masenya said he and his team, who were filming the scene, went back to the operations centre.


Source : Sapa /aw/hdw/jje/rod
Date : 14 Jun 2013 15:54
 
Marikana Lawyer takes Government to Court

Lawyer Dali Mpofu is to take President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to court to get state funding for victims of last year's Marikana shooting.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Farlam Commission of Inquiry hearing in Centurion on Thursday, he said he would lodge an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria this week.

"This is about what we call equality of arms. This inquiry is not an investigation, but a mission to find the truth... .You cannot sponsor one party and ignore the other."

Mpofu represents the miners injured in the shooting in August, and those arrested afterwards. He said his clients had the right to get financial assistance, just as the SA Police Service was getting state funding for legal representation.

Mpofu successfully lodged an application with the commission, and asked that the inquiry be moved from its original venue at the Rustenburg Civic Centre to Pretoria.

He cited limited resources at his disposal and mounting expenses due to the travelling to, and accommodation costs in, Rustenburg.

Mpofu would not say how much money he was seeking from government. The court papers were expected to be filed on Friday.

Police shot dead 34 striking miners in Marikana, North West, on August 16 year when trying to disperse them. The commission is investigating events that led to the shooting, and the death of 10 people in strike-related violence the previous week.


Source : Sapa /gm/hdw/th
Date : 20 Jun 2013 13:23
 
Legal Representation not Absolute: Bizos

Legal representation at a commission of inquiry is not an absolute right, veteran human rights lawyer George Bizos told the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.

"We do not contend that the right to legal representation at commissions is an absolute right."

He was speaking during an urgent application, brought by lawyer Dali Mpofu, that miners wounded and arrested at Marikana last year were entitled to legal representation at the State's expense.

Bizos, for the Legal Resources Centre, one of the applicants in the case, said whether representation was a right depended on the context. The circumstances where representation would be a right were determined by the nature of the inquiry and whether it demanded some or all parties be legally represented.

It also depended on if the interests of justice and the rule of law would be undermined by failure to uphold the right, and if the constitutional rights of parties or witnesses appearing before a commission were implicated or potentially threatened.

"We submit that all three conditions are met in the context of the applicants who are before the [Farlam] Commission [of Inquiry] for reasons that we will briefly explain during close of our argument."

Mpofu brought the application on Thursday. He is representing the miners arrested and wounded at Marikana at the inquiry.

"This matter concerns a great plethora of constitutional and statutory rights," Mpofu submitted in his heads of argument.

These included access to justice, the prohibition against unfair discrimination, and the right to legal representation. In a nutshell, the matter concerned justice, the rule of law, economic inequality or class discrimination, and fairness, he said.

He told the court the legal team had not received any funding for the term June to October, and that the commission was unlikely to finish its work by its extended deadline of October 31.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers shot by police in Marikana, North West, on August 16, and the deaths of 10 people in strike-related violence the previous week.

Mpofu wanted President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve payment for the mineworkers' legal team. He proposed that, as the court proceedings were unlikely to conclude by the end of the week, interim relief be granted, so as not to interfere with the commission, which would resume on Monday.

Outside the court a large group of miners and their families sang and danced in Church Square on Friday.


Source : Sapa /mv/hdw/jk/th
Date : 12 Jul 2013 14:03
 
Mpembe Quizzed

North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe on Monday faced questions regarding police interaction with striking mineworkers during the Marikana unrest.

Mpembe was on the witness stand at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, which is probing the events that led to the deaths of 34 miners shot by police on August 16. It is also looking into what led to the deaths of 10 people, including two police officers and security guards, the preceding week.

Evidence leader Mbuyiseli Madlanga showed Mpembe several videos and asked him to explain the methods police employed in managing thousands of protesting mineworkers.

Madlanga asked: "General, that police officer we see in the video with his back to the camera is you, isn't that so?"

Mpembe said he was not sure.

"I would know myself general, even if I was facing the other side. Was that not you?"

Mpembe conceded it could have been him, judging from the other police officers at the scene.

Some of the videos showed protesters running away after police fired stun grenades and teargas in a veld.

Madlanga asked: "From what we can see [in the videos] the people started running around only after stun grenades have been thrown and exploded. It's only then that they start to run around, do you see that?"

At that point, Tebogo Mathibedi, SC, for the police, objected.

"We are not able to see clearly in the video. There is some interruption being caused by the trees. We don't see what's happening on the other side," he said.

Mpembe said it was not possible to ascertain whether the smoke seen in the video was from teargas canisters or stun grenades.

The hearing continues.


Source : Sapa /jm/tk/jk/th
Date : 15 Jul 2013 12:27
 
Lawyers pull out of Commission

Lawyers representing the mineworkers wounded and arrested during the Marikana labour unrest last year provisionally pulled out of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry's proceedings on Monday.

Advocate Dali Mpofu announced the decision to withdraw, pending a High Court in Pretoria ruling on his application for the State to fund the legal team.

"Our instructions [from the mineworkers] are to await the judgment and at that point to receive further instructions. In the meantime, we will not be participating for the victims," he said.

"If we are back later on in the week, we will have the extra burden of catching up with what would have happened [at the commission]. We have been consulting with a small delegation of the victims now. We are still going to consult with the larger groups."

On June 21 Mpofu told the commission that, due to financial constraints, it could be his last day representing the miners. He then brought the urgent court application seeking funding for representing the mineworkers.

Mpofu wants President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve payment for the mineworkers' legal team.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 mineworkers in strike-related violence in Marikana, North West, in August.

On Monday, Mpofu promised the commission's chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, that he would update the commission about his team's decision, based on the court outcome.

"Irrespective of the outcome, as professionals, we have a duty to come here and brief the commission. We are not going to just disappear," he said.

Contrary to media reports, the high court ruling could be made "anytime from now".

"In the media, it's being said the judge will give his decision on Thursday. The judge did not say that. The judge simply said he would give his judgment this week.

"In reality, the judgment could be in the next two hours, tomorrow, or anytime this week," he said.

As Mpofu and his team were left the Tshwane council chambers, where the commission was holding its public hearings, Farlam inquired about Mpofu's recovery from stab wounds he sustained a while ago.

"I will take further instructions from my clients," said Mpofu jokingly.

The former SABC CEO was stabbed and robbed while walking on an East London beach in April.


Source : Sapa /jm/jk/clh/th
Date : 15 Jul 2013 13:57
 
Families Quit Marikana Inquiry

Lawyers for families of miners killed in Marikana, North West, last year, provisionally pulled out of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry's proceedings on Tuesday.

Nicole Lewis, who represents the families at the commission, announced after a lunch adjournment that the families were acting in solidarity with the group of mineworkers who were wounded and arrested on August 16.

"The family members have given instructions for us to place on record. They feel very uncomfortable participating as long as the miners who were injured and arrested aren't present or at the very least [if] their position is clear," she said.

"As things stand at the moment, they have a very strong feeling that they do not wish to participate further [at the commission]. We will take further instructions from them tomorrow."

Lewis said the families' final decision would be announced on Thursday.

"Until that time, the family members won't be participating. I have to ask the commission to excuse me."

Commission chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, asked Lewis whether the families had instructed her to sit in and not participate, or to leave the hearings.

Lewis replied she had been told to leave the room.

"Essentially they don't want to be present in the commission and they also don't wish their legal representatives to be present."

Farlam replied: "It's a pity, but you will have the transcript, to study it. I am not sure if your clients [can] prevent you from doing that."

On Monday, lawyers representing the mineworkers wounded and arrested provisionally pulled out of the commission's proceedings.

Dali Mpofu announced the decision to withdraw, pending a High Court in Pretoria ruling on his application for the State to fund the legal team.

"Our instructions [from the mineworkers] are to await the judgment and at that point to receive further instructions. In the meantime, we will not be participating for the victims," he said.

"If we are back later on in the week, we will have the extra burden of catching up with what would have happened [at the commission]."

On June 21, Mpofu told the commission that, due to financial constraints, it could be his last day representing the miners. He then brought the urgent court application seeking funding for representing the mineworkers. Mpofu wants President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve payment for the mineworkers' legal team.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 mineworkers in strike-related violence in Marikana in August.

On Monday, Mpofu promised that he would update the commission about his team's decision, based on the court outcome.

"Irrespective of the outcome, as professionals, we have a duty to come here and brief the commission. We are not going to just disappear," he said.

Contrary to media reports, the high court ruling could be made "anytime from now", he said.

The commission is set to resume on Thursday morning.


Source : Sapa /jm/hdw/jk/th
Date : 16 Jul 2013 16:00
 
State must fund Marikana Miners, Lawyers: Foundation

It is unforgivable that the Marikana miners, their families and legal representatives are not receiving financial support from the government for the duration of the commission, the Bench Marks foundation said on Thursday.

The absence of funding indicated the "paucity of commitment by government to get to the bottom of what actually happened on that fateful day", foundation chairman Bishop Jo Seoka, said in a statement.

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 34 striking mineworkers shot by police at Marikana in North West on August 16 last year, and the deaths of 10 people in strike-related violence the previous week.

Dali Mpofu, representing the wounded and arrested miners at the commission's hearings, had brought an urgent application for the state to fund their legal representation.

Mpofu wants President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve state payment of the mineworkers' legal team.

Seoka said financial support had been extended, but to a select few.

"While some parties, such as the minister of police, have the means to hire a senior advocate to sit and listen to the proceedings due to state support, others are unable to have legal representation at all due to lack of funds," Seoka said.

He hoped Mpofu's application would be successful.

The High Court in Pretoria will make a finding on the application on Thursday.

Mpofu has provisionally withdrawn from the commission pending the outcome of the court case.

Two other parties participating in the commission -- the Legal Resources Centre and the families of the miners killed -- have also provisionally withdrawn.


Source : Sapa /mr/tk/clh
Date : 18 Jul 2013 07:09
 
Marikana Fund Case Dismissed

The High Court in Pretoria has dismissed an application for the State to fund legal representation for the victims of the Marikana shootings.

"I agree with the State that the application cannot succeed," Judge Joseph Raulinga said.

"The application is dismissed. I need to say that nothing prevents the parties from settling this matter outside the courts."


Source : Sapa /aa/hdw
Date : 18 Jul 2013 15:25
 
Completely the right decision.

Sorry Dali, you can't make any more money wasting peoples time.
 
Court Decision a Mockery: UDM

The dismissal of a court application for the state to fund legal representation for victims of the Marikana shooting is a "mockery of justice", the UDM said on Friday.

"We take exception to the fact that these people were killed by the state forces," United Democratic Movement secretary general Bongani Msomi said in a statement, adding that the party respected the court's decision.

"Furthermore, it seems that justice is being made a mockery of by murderers in police uniforms who are having their bills footed by the state."

On Thursday, the High Court in Pretoria dismissed an application for the state to fund legal representation for victims of the Marikana shootings.

Dali Mpofu, acting for the wounded and arrested Marikana miners at the hearings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, brought the urgent application for the state to pay their lawyers' fees.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers shot by police at Marikana in North West on August 16, and the deaths of 10 people in strike-related violence the previous week.

Judge Joseph Raulinga said on Thursday: "I agree with the state that the application cannot succeed. The application is dismissed. I need to say that nothing prevents the parties from settling this matter outside the courts."

Raulinga said the duty of determining how public resources were used lay in the hands of the executive. He could only grant such an order if there was proof of unlawfulness, fraud, or corruption.

Msomi said the state should protect its people.

"The UDM calls upon the state to grant remediation and a speedy justice for the affected miners and their families."


Source : Sapa /gq/tk/jk/th
Date : 19 Jul 2013 09:59
 
Lawyers want Commission Postponed

Lawyers representing the wounded and arrested Marikana miners at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry sought a three-week postponement of its public hearings on Monday.

Advocate Dali Mpofu, for the miners, said he wanted time to approach the Constitutional Court in his quest to have the State fund the workers' legal representation. The High Court in Pretoria turned down his application for funding last week.

"The intention was to appeal directly to appeal to the Constitutional Court," Mpofu said in Pretoria on Monday.

"Unfortunately, the [high court] judge was not prepared to hand down his written judgment [last week]. He said he still wanted to edit a few parts."

Judge Joseph Raulinga's ruling would form part of his appeal.

"We tried to put some subtle pressure, on the basis that we have to attach the judgment [to] the application. The best we got is that he would do it on Tuesday. By tomorrow we will have the judgment," Mpofu said.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during labour unrest at Lonmin's platinum in Marikana, North West, last August.

On Monday, Mpofu asked retired judge Ian Farlam, who chairs the commission, to postpone the public hearings until August 19.

"What we are asking the commission is not something that is easy. We would rather have a situation of where the power of what happens is taken back to the hands of the commission [than] to have this drama of people walking out," he said.

"We ask the commission to hear our plea. We would like to shorten the time within which we will, under pressure, draft the papers to the Constitutional Court and appeal to the Chief Justice to hear this matter expeditiously."

Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, for the families of the miners killed in Marikana, supported Mpofu's postponement application. He would be part of the Constitutional Court appeal process.

On June 21, Mpofu told the commission it could be his last day representing the miners because of financial constraints. He then brought the urgent high court application asking for President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve payment for the mineworkers' legal team.


Source : Sapa /jm/hdw/clh/th
Date : 22 Jul 2013 12:14
 
Marikana and the problem of pack journalism

ANALYSIS: Professor Jane Duncan, Rhodes University

The televised images of armed miners rushing towards the police in Marikana on the 16th August, and the police opening fire on the miners, will haunt South Africans for many years to come.

Reporting from behind the police line in relative safety, journalists presented to the world images that on the surface of things vindicated the police’s view of events, namely that they shot in self-defence.But subsequent academic, journalistic and eyewitness accounts have called this narrative into question, with evidence having emerged of a second ‘kill site’ where miners were allegedly killed in a far more premeditated fashion by the police.

Journalists were not present at this site. This alternative narrative emerged after miners were interviewed by the University of Johannesburg and subsequently by the Daily Maverick. Up to that point, journalists had completely missed this alternative account.

Hopefully, the truth will emerge from the Farlam Commission of Enquiry. But how did the media fare in reporting on the massacre, and how has it assisted the public to build their own understanding of what happened and its significance?. Why did journalists miss such a crucial dimension of the Marikana story, which called into question very fundamentally the official version of events?

In an initial attempt to answer this question, a representative sample of printed newspaper articles provided by News Monitor via Media Tenor, for the dates 13 - 22 August were analysed for their sources of information: 153 articles in total.

The source analysis included people and organisations who were quoted directly, or who clearly provided information that formed part of the basis of the article (such as Lonmin annual reports or a report released shortly before the massacre by the Benchmarks Foundation). Many articles had several sources.

The upshot of this analysis, in pie chart form, is as follows:

image.jpg

Newspapers sampled: Business Day, The Star (including Business Report), The New Age, Citizen, Mail and Guardian, City Press, The Sunday Times and Times, Sowetan, Beeld, Die Burger, Sunday Independent, Financial Mail.

Of the 3 percent of miners who were interviewed independently of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), only one worker was quoted speaking about what actually happened during the massacre, and he said the police shot first. Most miners were interviewed in relation to the stories alleging that the miners had used muti to defend themselves against the police’s bullets, as well as the miners’ working and living conditions.

So in other words, of all 153 articles, only one showed any attempt by a journalist to obtain an account from a worker about their version of events. There is scant evidence of journalists having asked the miners the simplest and most basic of questions, namely ‘what happened’?

A more comprehensive analysis of the media coverage over this period is being planned, but so far, it appears that it was only after the Maverick coverage that many journalists realised that the miners actually had a story to tell, independently of the unions or any other organised formation. Journalists seemed to assume that by having interviewed the unions, they had somehow ‘covered’ the miners’ story; an incorrect assumption, as many miners who initiated and sustained the strike action did not feel represented by either union.

This initial sample of the press coverage during the week of the massacre raises some serious, unavoidable questions, about the state of South Africa journalism, which likes to portray itself as the watchdog of the powerful, and on behalf of the powerless.

However, the bureaucratic and social organisation of news in contemporary media organisations often leads to journalists prioritising the dominant groups in society. It is not coincidental that, apart from being a representation of journalistic sources, the pie chart also mirrors quite accurately where the power lies in society. Those with the most power and money have the biggest voice.

In fast-paced newsrooms, where journalists are required to meet more and more deadlines, it is tempting to rely on sources of information that are more readily obtainable and have been validated by other media, while avoiding sources that are less ‘trusted’ and require more validation. Known as ‘pack journalism’, these tendencies can give journalism a sameness that reduces diversity of voices.

The most easily validated sources are likely to be organisations with the resources to maintain a constant flow of information to the media, such as government agencies, big business and ‘think tanks’. Organisations or individuals representing working class or unemployed interests are likely to be less well resourced and lack the capacity to communicate proactively, which can lead to them dropping under the journalist’s radar.

Many media organisations have dedicated business reporters or even publications. Yet there are hardly any labour reporters anymore; this beat has practically disappeared from newsrooms, which makes it even more likely that workers’ perspectives will be sidelined.

Journalists pride themselves on their independence. Yet if the first week of reporting on the Marikana conflict is anything to go by, many journalists allowed themselves to become mouthpieces of the rich and powerful, reproducing the official versions of events, and silencing the voices of the workers as rational, thinking beings with their own stories to tell.

Such reporting is an indictment on journalism and all that it stands for. It does not help society understand the scale of the social unrest gripping the country, the levels of police violence in response, and overall, the extent of the drift towards outright state repression. A society can ill-afford to sleepwalk through a period in history when it risks collapsing under the weight of its own internal contradictions.

When the Daily Maverick’s Greg Marinovich was interviewed about his stories on the massacre, he was asked what advice he would give to journalists to improve their reporting, and his response was simply to ‘…go take peoples’ stories’. If journalists are to rise to the task of reflecting accurately the most troubled period in South Africa’s post-apartheid history, then journalists should take this advice seriously. If they do not, then they will continue to fail South Africa.

Professor Jane Duncan is Highway Africa Chair of Media and Information Society in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University.
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What a monumental waste of time and money this has been.

Whatever this cost, the cash should have been used to train decent riot squads and buy decent gear.
 
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