Marikana Shootings Farlam Commission Thread

[LazyLion]

SAHRC SLATES POLICE IN MARIKANA INQUIRY

Police did not engage openly and fully with the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the August 2012 violence at Marikana, North West, the commission heard on Thursday.

"The SAPS seemed to drip-feed the commission," Michelle le Roux, for the SA Human Rights Commission, told the public hearings in Pretoria.

Police missed deadlines for submission of statements and when new deadlines were set, these were missed too.

She said police deliberately concealed and tailored evidence to suit its case.

"It seemed this drip-feeding was in response to damaging facts emerging in the commission."

This implied that evidence was eked out as a means of damage control.

The commission is hearing final arguments from parties after two years of public hearings. The last hearing is expected next Friday, before the commission draws up its report, to be given to President Jacob Zuma.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with the police on August 16. Police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them. In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.

Le Roux said police should not benefit from its alleged failure to engage fully and openly with the commission, and adverse inferences could be drawn from this.

"The burden of proof is on [the] SAPS, which we submit has not been discharged."

Where inadequate evidence was available to the commission, a lower standard of proof was adequate, since the commission had different standards to those required by a court of law.

Le Roux questioned why every police member who fired a shot on August 16 had not been called to give evidence.

Commission chairman Ian Farlam interjected that, had this been the case, "we would have sat here for a very, very long time".

He said he did not criticise the police for this as it would have been impossible to call all the police officers.


Source : Sapa /mjs/jk/jje/th
Date : 06 Nov 2014 11:08

 

[LazyLion]

POLICE CANNOT BE EXONERATED: BIZOS

The SA Police Service must be held accountable for the deaths and injuries of striking mineworkers at Marikana in North West in August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.

"I would submit that it would be completely unacceptable to the people of South Africa, who have been following what has been said [in the inquiry], if police [are found] not to blame for anything," George Bizos SC, for the Legal Resources Centre, said.

His voice cracked, apparently with emotion, as he said that during apartheid it was common for commissions to find "that there was no one to blame".

"A finding by this commission that the police are not responsible for any of the deaths will undermine the administration in our country and the rule of law."

Bizos said there was "not a single scratch on any policeman" and asked what inference could be drawn from this.

"Breaking the strike was not the police's business."

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin's platinum mining operations at Marikana in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with the police on August 16.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested. The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.

The Legal Resources Centre called for the commission to recommend that the police and Lonmin be held civilly responsible for the deaths and injuries, and should be made to speedily pay compensation to victims and their families.

It also sought a recommendation for investigations towards the prosecution of senior police officials who participated in a national management forum meeting where the confrontation with strikers was allegedly agreed to, as well as individual police shooters.

The commission is hearing final arguments, drawn from the parties' heads of argument, before the public hearings, which began in October 2012, come to an end next Friday.

The commissioners will then compile their final report, which will be handed to President Jacob Zuma.


Source : Sapa /mjs/jje/jk
Date : 06 Nov 2014 13:43

 

[LazyLion]

RAMAPHOSA NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MARIKANA TRAGEDY: LONMIN

Lonmin could not criticise Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa for his role in events during the unprotected strike at Lonmin's Marikana mine in August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Monday.

"I cannot criticise Mr Ramaphosa on what he did. He did what any responsible businessman would've done," Schalk Burger, for Lonmin, told the commission in his final arguments.

Ramaphosa was a non-executive director of Lonmin at the time of the August 2012 wage-related strike.

He had been accused of using his political influence to get the police to act against the striking workers.

Burger argued that Ramaphosa's motive was to "stabilise the situation and bring the violence to an end".

He added that the commission's evidence leaders had not suggested that Ramaphosa did not exercise his best endeavours.

Earlier, Burger argued that Lonmin could not breach the legal framework to negotiate with mineworkers.

He said that one of the problems they had was that none of the strikers could explain how they reached the figure of R12,500 for their wage demand.

"We haven't heard that to this day. We don't even know if a housing allowance was included in that. What we do know is that that was net... and that it was non-negotiable," Burger said.

He referred to the testimony of striker Mzoxolo Magidiwana who testified that even if Lonmin had gone to the hill where the strikers had gathered and asked them to disarm themselves, go home, and then engage in talks with Lonmin, they would not have entertained that.

Burger said it was an unrealistic request to have expected Lonmin to engage with the strikers outside of structures given that they were armed, ignoring a court order, and running amok.

"What is the point of criticising Lonmin for not talking to the strikers?" Burger asked.

"If they had talked, it would've caused rippling into the mining industry which we would not have been able to unravel... it would not have prevented the tragedy on the 16th [of August]."

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana, North West, in the strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested. The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.


Source : Sapa /gf/jk/lp
Date : 10 Nov 2014 12:42

 

[marine1]

God is this crap still going on????

 

[daveza]

RAMAPHOSA NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MARIKANA TRAGEDY: LONMIN

We know that - Marikana strikers were responsible for the Marikana tragedy.

 

[LazyLion]

LONMIN UNEQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH MARIKANA STRIKE

Lonmin's security staff were not equipped to deal with the August 2012 unprotected strike at its Marikana mine in North West, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Monday.

"They were not equipped to deal with an outbreak of violence to that extent," Azar Bam, for Lonmin, told the commission during his final arguments.

Lonmin had been criticised for being inadequately equipped to deal with the events that unfolded and to deal with injuries to people between August 9 and 13.

Bam said Lonmin demilitarised its operations in 2005 and moved to dealing with crime on a lower level.

"Was Lonmin equipped to deal with events as they unfolded? The answer is obviously not," he said.

He argued that Lonmin had only 60 security guards at the time and ought not to have been expected to deal with events that were so extensive and covered such a wide area.

He said had the security guards been equipped with armoured vehicles and different clothing, it would not have made a difference to the violent intent of the strikers.

Bam acknowledged that Lonmin security had shot at striking miners on August 10 because there had been a history of intimidation during strikes.

He also admitted that the deletion of the shooting incidents from the logbook by then security manager Graeme Sinclair was unjustified.

"He has admitted to deleting several shooting incidences involving his staff. You simply cannot condone him for doing that."

Bam argued, however, that the commission could not make any inference on an excessive use of force by Lonmin.

"There's no evidence to support that," he said.

Bam defended Lonmin's characterisation of the August 2012 strike as a "criminal act".

"The manner in which certain people had conducted themselves... you cannot characterise that conduct and its outcome in any other way. At the very least it's a fair characterisation."

Bam said the strike was characterised as criminal because of the incidents in which two Lonmin security guards Hassan Fundi and Frans Mabelane had been brutally killed by strikers.

Two mineworkers Eric Mabebe and Julius Langa had also been killed by their colleagues.

He described these killings as "gruesome".

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Marikana in the strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested.

The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and the two Lonmin security guards, were killed.


Source : Sapa /gf/jk/lp/jje
Date : 10 Nov 2014 15:29

 

[LazyLion]

HOW MUCH IS THE RIGHT TO LIFE?: MARIKANA LAWYER

In sending their employees to deal with around 3000 striking miners, Lonmin weighed up the cost of the August 2012 platinum strike against the lives of their employees, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

"In a commercial setting, how much is a risk to the right to life?" asked Tshepiso Ramphele, for the families of two Lonmin security officers and a non-striking miner killed by strikers.

"If one looks at the damages one has to pay in... because we [Lonmin] are going to lose R2 billion, we have a very reasonable consideration that says we can forgo R200,000 and we can forgo a number of R200,000s otherwise we lose R2b."

The R200,000 represented the compensation Lonmin would pay to employees and their families incapacitated or killed on the job, Ramphele said.

"It cannot be a consideration that is justified to risk the right to life," he said.

"Even with the propositions that have been put forward, Lonmin would still not be justified to risk the right to life, and I mean the most recently we've had the most, of what one can call a world calamity, in the form of Ebola, and we know how it's resolved, we quarantine it."

If 3000 striking miners posed a danger the problem should have been contained. However, Frans Mabelane, one of the security officers killed, had received only three months training, encompassing 19 different courses including crowd management.

This was wholly inadequate for the situation at hand, beyond security officers being outnumbered.

"I think the issue of taking the right to life against containing the right to life was not considered," Ramphele said.

"The test is when you send the employee out, did you take reasonable steps? Did they [Lonmin] actually take reasonable care to make sure Mabelane's life was not in danger?"

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana, North West, in the strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested. The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and the two Lonmin security officers, were killed.


Source : Sapa /aw/jk/jje
Date : 11 Nov 2014 10:46

 

[LazyLion]

ESTABLISH RESTORATION FUND: LAWYER

A restoration fund should be established for the families affected by the shooting at Marikana in August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

"Marikana is a test of constitutional values of the country," said Tshepiso Ramphele, for two Lonmin security officers and one of the non-striking miners killed, allegedly by strikers, during the violent unprotected strike.

"This commission has to also look at restoration."

All the stakeholders, including labour unions and Lonmin, needed to make sure that the community in Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West, was not left carrying the legacy of the strike and the shootings.

"Life has been life and our constitutional values say that we must try to have communities that live together, including with the employer," said Ramphele.

"We believe if that fund is created we will be able to go beyond this commission with the confidence that we will not have another Marikana."

Earlier, Ramphele submitted that in sending their employees to deal with around 3000 striking miners, Lonmin had weighed up the cost the 2012 platinum strike against the lives of their employees.

"In a commercial setting how much is a risk to the right to life?" he asked.

"If one looks at the damages one has to pay in... because we [Lonmin] are going to lose R2 billion, we have a very reasonable consideration that says we can forgo R200,000 and we can forgo a number of R200,000s otherwise we lose R2bn."

The R200,000 represented the compensation Lonmin would pay to employees and their families incapacitated or killed on the job, Ramphele said.

"It cannot be a consideration that is justified to risk the right to life," he said.

"I think the issue of taking the right to life against containing the right to life was not considered.

The test is when you send the employee out, did you take reasonable steps? Did they [Lonmin] actually take reasonable care to make sure [slain security officer Frans] Mabelane's life was not in danger?"

It was the employer's obligation to investigate the degree of danger in which they put their employee.

"If you knowingly put your employee in a situation of that nature, then we don't judge the employee and I think case laws in Europe and other international jurisdictions have judged, [that] the employer must investigate the extent of the danger," said Ramphele.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana in strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested.

The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and the two Lonmin security guards, were killed.


Source : Sapa /aw/jje/jk/lp
Date : 11 Nov 2014 11:33

 

[LazyLion]

NUM NEGLECTED ITS DUTY: LAWYER

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) failed to properly represent rock drill operators (RDOs) prior to the unprotected strike at Lonmin in Marikana in August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

"There's a large section of NUM's heads of argument which are devoted [to] an attempt to say that it should bear no responsibility because it had no mandate to take up [what]... RDOs were raising, being R12,500," Anthony Gotz, for the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), told the commission in Pretoria in closing arguments.

He was referring to the minimum salary being demanded at the time.

He said the NUM argued that since workers had rejected their involvement in raising their demands, the NUM had no mandate to take up their demands, therefore they were not responsible for the events that followed.

"The attempt to suggest that it [NUM] bore no responsibility to subsequent events because it did not have a mandate from the RDOs should not be accepted," Gotz said.

Gotz said the NUM was fully aware that RDOs were underpaid, and had indicated before the strike began that the situation was a "ticking time bomb".

"NUM took an incorrect and largely indefensible position in key meetings just prior to the commencement of the strike."

When probed by commission chairman retired judge Ian Farlam as to what kind of responsibility the NUM should then bear, Gotz said the NUM had failed in its responsibility to its members and all RDOs.

"NUM officials who articulated that position improperly, and possibly negligently, articulated that position which [had] the effect of foreclosing any prospect that the demands of the RDOs would be taken up by the NUM," Gotz said.

"That indeed created an irresponsibility not only to its own members but to all of the RDOs at Lonmin because it alone had the right to bargain."

It further constituted a failure to properly represent the RDOs in circumstances which were acknowledged to be very volatile.

Gotz said he did not submit that the NUM was criminally responsible for the events that followed during the strike, but the NUM had to bear responsibility for their failure to represent RDOs in those circumstances.

The NUM should have instead made representations to the RDOs that they could take up their cause with management.

Gotz also focused on the action of NUM officials when their offices at Lonmin's platinum mining operations at Marikana, North West, were approached by a group of striking workers.

He said a rumour had gone round, with the source unidentified, that the strikers were on the way to the NUM offices with violent intent.

The 30 officials at their offices armed themselves "to the teeth" to protect their property, Gotz said, even though their offices were the property of Lonmin.

"We do accept that it may have contained contents that belong to NUM... The essential question, given the fact their stated intent to go out and confront the strikers, what are the legal principles that are at play in these sort of circumstances?"

Taking action that could potentially lead to the deaths of others in defence of property was only justified in very exceptional circumstances, with the NUM officials being in possession of a firearm at the time, he said.

The subsequent pursuit of the strikers by NUM members could not be seen as something that fell under the rubric of self-defence either.

"We do submit that there is a prima facie case that the person or persons involved were not acting in self-defence," Gotz said.

He said the NUM officials involved in the pursuit were possibly liable to charges of attempted murder and assault to do grievous bodily harm.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana, in the strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested. The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.


Source : Sapa /aw/lp/jk/jje
Date : 11 Nov 2014 15:31

 

[LazyLion]

STRIKERS WERE NOT KILLED LAWFULLY: LAWYER

Striking miners shot dead by police on August 13 and 16, 2012, at Marikana were not killed lawfully, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

Before beginning his final arguments to the commission in Pretoria, Dumisa Ntsebeza, for the families of miners killed in the 2012 unprotected strike, read the names of those killed as their relatives observed in silence.

"It s important because in the hustle and bustle of argument people become statistics, we talk about 37 people we represent," he told the commission in Pretoria.

"Their relatives are here. And the difference between everyone else here, our people, those relatives, those families, are keen to know what at the end of the day is what is going to be found, why they were killed? The question is whether they were killed lawfully or unlawfully."

He said they would argue that each and everyone was killed unlawfully by police.

Ntsebeza said police unlawfully killed four mineworkers on August 13, and others on August 16.

"The places in which the mineworkers have been kept... the majority of the places that you visit and saw are still compounds. People that are still mineworkers stay there, without family. They are still dehumanised," he said.

"Why are we still having a perpetuation of this kind of service and conditions in a democracy?"

The conditions that the striking mineworkers in 2012, and those today, lived in were not the conditions ordinary humans were expected to live in.

"It is important to contextualise who these people are. Who are these mineworkers?" he said.

"We are talking about people who by reason of the low wages they were getting could never earn enough to other than sustain them and to have a little bit for their families when they stayed with them."

That condition would be perpetuated, as their children would be forced into the same situation, with the same cycle of low wages perpetuated.

"Why is this so in a democracy? It may well be that it is not different from what the author of a book entitled 'Learning to trust democracy', which was published in 1999, said. The author is Michael Rebehn," Ntsebeza said.

"He says what we now have in the new South Africa and that he said it in 1999... the new South Africa has been heading to a new socio-economic stratification."

These would not be along the old lines of the past, but rather would be of an African, white upper class, dominating the bloated state apparatus and business sector versus a largely African underclass consisting of those who were not rewarded with a government job for their participation in the struggle, or who were unemployable.

"In a democracy founded on the values of equality, freedom, human dignity, a democracy informed by the values of ubuntu, how does it happen that a labour dispute escalates to a point where that very week 44 human lives are taken? Thirty-four in one day," he said.

"What is the function of a police service in a democracy founded on those values? How does it deal with what it perceives to be lawlessness or unlawfulness? These are the answers the families are expecting the commission to assist them with."

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana, North West, in the strike-related unrest in August 2012.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police on August 16, 2012.

More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 were arrested.

The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security officers, were killed.


Source : Sapa /aw/lp/jk
Date : 11 Nov 2014 15:50

 

[LazyLion]

SAPS REMINDS FARLAM OF HIS LIMITS

The outcome of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry will have several limitations because it is not a court of law, Ishmael Semenya SC, for the SA Police Service (SAPS), said on Thursday.

"For my part, I will be surprised if the president receives your report which says 'there are pointers of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the national commissioner of police, please have this investigated, and have the DPP prosecute'," Semenya told the inquiry in Pretoria in his closing arguments.

"The president shouldn't be interested in that. It must be correct that the president knows that there are instruments in this country whose primary statutory responsibility is to do that. They don't need you to do that."

He said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) had the responsibility to investigate all complaints of police culpability.

"Why should they wait for you, as a commission to make that recommendation?"

Semenya said it was "completely unnecessary" for the inquiry to venture into the terrain of prosecutions.

Commission chairman retired judge Ian Farlam intervened, stating that his terms of reference empower him to recommend matters for prosecution.

"Before you carry on, in the terms of reference we are enjoined, where appropriate, to refer any matter for criminal prosecution, further investigation, or the convening of a separate inquiry," said Farlam.

"Clearly one of the things the president has told us to do is that if we think it is appropriate we should do the things I have listed. It is therefore not correct to say the question of possible prosecutions is a matter we may not consider."

He said the commission was empowered to refer "any matter" for prosecution.

Semenya said Ipid was already investigating the complaints against the police, and the mandate of the commission was to investigate, not to adjudicate.

"The function of an inquest is to investigate, and if there is a finding of prima facie criminal wrongdoing, it takes the matter forward. It cannot make a finding of, for example, of murder," said Semenya.

"You do not want to end up with an inquest finding that a person has been murdered and in the same case a criminal court finds the [accused] person is acquitted. You then have two structures with conflicting opinions. So I caution you in the same vein."

He said the inquiry should be careful about finding certain parties "unlawful and the like".

"The Constitution reposes judicial function on civil and criminal courts that are going to pronounce themselves on these issues."

He said where the inquiry finds evidence for the killing of a person, the commission cannot pronounce it as murder.

"By that you would now be doing judicial functions, not an investigative function," said Semenya.

Farlam said he had a problem with Semenya's assertions.

"The terms of reference say the commission shall inquire and make findings. I thought you said we must not make findings but report on the recommendations.

"Imagine what would happen if we say to the president 'thank you Mr president, we spent over two years and used so many million rands holding investigations. We are not going to make any findings because we must not'."

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related violence at Lonmin's platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police, over 70 were wounded, and another 250 arrested on August 16, 2012.

Police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including policemen and two security guards, were killed.


Source : Sapa /jm/jk/jje
Date : 13 Nov 2014 14:52

 

[LazyLion]

CAMPAIGN FOR MARIKANA HOLIDAY: REPORT

A formal application will be made by Anglican Bishop Jo Seoka and the Marikana Support Group to have August 16, the day 34 mineworkers were killed in Marikana, to be declared a public holiday, the Sowetan reported on Friday.

"It is appropriate to campaign for August 16 to be a public holiday. Those workers did not die accidentally, they were massacred," Seoka was quoted as saying.

"We must honour those fallen workers... Their children will know their parents died for a good cause."

The application would be made to the department of home affairs. The newspaper did not say when it would be made.

On August 16, 2012, 34 people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police near Lonmin mine in Marikana, North West. More than 70 others were wounded.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed.

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the deaths.

The commission concluded in November last year after a sitting lasting 300 days.

The commissioners were to prepare a final report, which would be submitted to President Jacob Zuma in March.


Source : Sapa /mar/fg/jje
Date : 16 Jan 2015 07:54

 

[crack2483]

Give us more unproductive days besides striking!

Should make it a "make sure you at work so you don't get shot" day.

 

[ToxicBunny]

No.. no more damn public holidays. Especially one trying to celebrate this tragedy.. and the workers don't need to be honoured.

 

[Pitbull]

Lol, on my brother's birthday. I support

 

[LazyLion]

Court to hear urgent Marikana application

Pretoria - Lawyers for mineworkers are set to argue on Monday why President Jacob Zuma should urgently release the Marikana report.

The urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria comes after they wrote to Zuma two weeks ago, warning him to release the report within two days or face legal action.

The application is by mineworkers who were wounded and arrested during the August 2012 violence at Lonmin’s mine in Marikana, North West, as well as by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the killing of 34 miners in Marikana on August 12, and the deaths of 10 people, including two security guards and two police officers, the preceding week.

The commission's chair, retired judge Ian Farlam, handed a report to Zuma at the end of March.

In an answering affidavit filed on Friday, Zuma reportedly said it was "naïve” to expect that he could release the report so soon.

The City Press reported him as saying in his affidavit that it would take time to make sure the report got the full attention it deserved.

“These anticipated political ramifications require that I fully understand the consequences of the report, least of all because I will have to address the public, if not the nation, on its contents, and answer important [and difficult] questions on its meaning and impact.”

Zuma said in Parliament that he would release the report before the end of June.

Jenna Etheridge, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Court-to-hear-urgent-Marikana-application-20150608

 

[LazyLion]

Police Commissioner's fitness to hold office questioned by Marikana Commission

The judicial commission of inquiry into the ‘Marikana Massacre’ has recommended that an inquiry be held into the fitness to hold office of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and the provincial provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Zukiswa Mbombo.

The conduct of the police was heavily criticized by the Farlam report‚ disclosed by President Jacob Zuma this evening – It recommended that the criminal liability of police on the scene should be investigated by the state advocate and crime scene experts.

Armed police shot and killed 34 miners on August 16 2012 on a koppie near Wonderkop informal settlement‚ in Rustenburg area. Seventy-eight were injured. In the days before the shooting‚ 10 other people were killed in violence around the Lonmin platinum mine – including non-striking miners‚ security guards and two police officers who were hacked to death.

Gen Mbombo‚ 60‚ announced she was retiring in May. She had been at the helm of the police in the North West since 2010.

During the commission hearings in 2013‚ the lawyers representing the slain workers called for Mbombo to be charged with murder.

Just prior to the massacre‚ Mbombo told the media: “Today is D-Day‚ we are ending this matter”.

The commission also heard that Mbombo decided to implement phase three of the police’s response because the workers were refusing to surrender their weapons and disperse.

Zuma said on national television that the Farlam Commission had found the SAPS should not have acted that day as the plan was flawed.

The police drew up an operational plan‚ which entailed the encirclement of strikers‚ he said.

"The tactical option was defective in a number of respects."

The police operation should not have taken place on 16 August (2012) because of defects in the plan.

"The police should have waited until the following day."

A panel of experts should be appointed comprising senior officers of SAPS‚ and independent experts in public order policing to deal with armed crowds in future‚ the Commission proposed.

RDM News Wire.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics...hold-office-questioned-by-Marikana-Commission

 

[LazyLion]

Marikana report says how cops must improve

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma listed several recommendations on how public order policing can be improved at the release of the report on the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana tragedy on Thursday evening.

Several steps should be taken to step up police work in situations such as those that occurred during the strike on the platinum belt in Rustenburg in the North West in August 2012, which left at least 44 people dead, Zuma read from the report. Thirty-four of those were shot dead by the police in one day.

Zuma said the report by retired judge Ian Farlam recommended that the public order policing unit be advised by local and international experts who have experience in dealing with crowds armed with sharp weapons and firearms.

"This panel should among others revise and amend all prescripts relevant to public order policing, investigate the world's best practices and measures available for use - without resorting to the use of weapons capable of automatic fire where public order policing are inadequate."

In public order police situations, the operational decisions should be made by an officer in overall comment with reasonable training in public order policing.

All radio communications should be recorded and the recordings should be preserved, the commission recommended.

Other recommendations include:

- The SA Police Service should also review the adequacy of the training of members who use specialised equipment such as water cannons.

- Police vehicles should be equipped with video cameras.

- All police officers should be trained in basic first aid.

- All of these recommendations should be treated as a "matter of priority".

News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Marikana-report-says-how-cops-must-improve-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Police lied to Marikana commission: findings

Johannesburg - The Marikana commission suggested that the SA Police Service lied about its tactical plan to disperse striking mineworkers on August 16 2012.

"The police leadership did not initially disclose to the commission the fact that the original plan was not capable of being implemented on the first date and had been abandoned," President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

"In addition, police leadership did not inform the commission that the decision to go ahead with the tactical option if the strikers did not voluntarily lay down their arms and disperse was taken at the national management forum on August 15. Instead, they informed the commission that this decision was taken on August 16 and after the situation had escalated."

Zuma was reading out the findings of the report compiled by the commission chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam.

The commission found that the police had drawn up an operational plan which entailed the "unsettlement of a relatively small group of strikers" who would be on the koppie in the early morning.

"The strategy entailed encircling the strikers with barbed wire and offering them an exit point through which they would need to move while handing over their weapons.

"This phase was only capable of being implemented early in the morning when there was a relatively small number of strikers.

"Attempts were also made to negotiate with the strikers by the police. The unsettlement plan was replaced by the tactical option which was defective in a number respects," Zuma said.

The tactical option, which led to the killing of 34 mineworkers, was implemented around 15:40 on August 16 2012.

A total of 78 people were injured on the day of the shooting.

"The commission has also raised serious concern that there was a delay of about an hour in getting medical assistance to the strikers who were injured at scene one and asserts that at least one striker might have survived if he had been treated timeously."

The commission found that the police operation should not have taken place on August 16 2012 because of the defects in the plan.

'Significant bloodshed'

It also found that it would have been impossible to disarm the striking workers and disperse them without "significant bloodshed".

"The police should have waited until the following day when the original unsettlement plan which was substantially risk free could have been implemented," Zuma said.

"The commission also found that the decision that strikers would be forcibly removed from the koppie by the police on August 16 if they did not voluntarily lay down arms was not taken by the tactical commanders on the ground.

"The decision was instead taken by Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo, the North West police commissioner and was endorsed by the SAPS leadership at the extra ordinary session of the management forum.

"The commission also found that the operation should have been stopped after the shooting at scene one and that there was also a complete lack of command and control at scene two.

"The commission has also questioned the conduct of the police management during the inquiry," said Zuma.

Genevieve Quintal, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Police-lied-to-Marikana-commission-findings-20150625

 

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Ramaphosa, Mthethwa cleared in Marikana report

Johannesburg - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot be held accountable for the deaths of the 34 Marikana miners, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

Individual strikers encouraged the violence during their strike at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in August 2012, he read from a summary of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry’s report.

“The commission has found it cannot be said that Mr Ramaphosa was the cause of the massacre and that the accusations against him are groundless.”

Lawyers at the inquiry had alleged that Mthethwa was the cause of the 34 deaths in August 2012 and had to be held accountable.

“The commission found that the executive played no role in the decision of the police to implement the tactical option of the 16 of August 2012,” Zuma read.

“Loose groupings” of strikers had, however, fuelled the conflict.

They “promoted a situation of conflict and confrontation which gave rise, directly and indirectly, to the deaths of Lonmin security guards and non-striking workers and endangered the lives of the non-striking workers who were injured".

Thomas Hartleb, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Ramaphosa-Mthethwa-cleared-in-Marikana-report-20150625