Marikana Shootings Farlam Commission Thread

[LazyLion]

NUM gave 'wrong advice' on Marikana

Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) did not do its best to resolve a dispute between itself and strikers during the 2012 Marikana strike on the platinum belt that left dozens of people dead, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday evening.

Releasing the report on the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, Zuma named the NUM as one the parties against which there were findings.

He said NUM made several mistakes, including "wrongly advising" rock drill operators that no negotiations with Lonmin were possible until the end of a two-year wage agreement.

"The union also did not take the initiative to persuade and enable Lonmin to speak to the workers.

"The NUM also failed to exercise effective control of its membership in ensuring that their conduct was lawful," said Zuma.

He said the union "did not exercise its best endeavours to resolve the dispute between itself and the strikers".

The report also said NUM did not do enough to protect workers in a situation where there was "real danger" of them being killed or injured by armed strikers.

News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/NUM-gave-wrong-advice-on-Marikana-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Marikana commission finds Lonmin failed to respond to violence

Johannesburg - The Marikana Commission has found the Lonmin failed to ensure the safety of its workers and did not do its best to resolve the dispute with striking workers, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

"The commission found that Lonmin did not use its best endeavours to resolve the disputes that arose between itself and its workers who participated in the unprotected strike... and between the strikers and workers who did not participate in the strike," he said, summarising the commission's report.

"It also did not respond appropriately to the threat of and outbreak of violence.

"Lonmin also failed to employ sufficient safeguards and measures to ensure the safety of its employees."

He said the commission found that Lonmin also insisted that its employees were who not striking should come to work when it knew it was not in the position to protect them from strikers.

"It also criticised Lonmin's undertaking with regards to social and labour plans.

Ahmed Areff, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...Lonmin-failed-to-respond-to-violence-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Amcu president did his best - Marikana report

Johannesburg - The Marikana commission of inquiry found that Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa did his best to persuade striking mineworkers to leave the koppie before the shooting on August 16 2012, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

However, the commission found that the union did not have effective control over its members.

"The commission has found that officials of Amcu did not exercise effective control over Amcu members... in ensuring that their conduct was lawful and it did not endanger the lives of others," he said.

"They sang provocative songs and made inflammatory remarks which tended to aggravate an already volatile situation."

Zuma was reading a summary of the findings from the commission.

Genevieve Quintal, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Amcu-president-did-his-best-Marikana-report-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Phiyega must face inquiry - Farlam commission

Johannesburg - National police commissioner Riah Phiyega must face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry has said in its report.

“The commission has also recommended that there must be an inquiry into the fitness to hold office of the national police commissioner as well as the North West provincial commissioner,” President Jacob Zuma read from a summary of the commission’s report, which is over 600 pages long.

“I have written to the national commissioner to inform her of the recommendations pertaining to her,” he said.

The relevant ministers would study the report and advise Zuma on how the recommendations were being implemented.

In concluding, he said South Africa should learn from the deaths of 44 people during a strike by Lonmin’s miners in Marikana in August 2012, and use it to build a united and peaceful society.

“The Marikana incident was a horrendous tragedy that has no place in a democracy where all citizens have a right to protest and where workers have a right to go on strike peacefully and to negotiate working conditions with their employers peacefully.”

The report would be published in the Government Gazette and on the presidency’s and GCIS’s website.

Thomas Hartleb, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Phiyega-must-face-inquiry-Farlam-commission-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Now, where's the report into how much taxpayer money the commission wasted to tell us a whole bunch of stuff we already knew?

 

[daveza]

Zuma appoints Cele - found unfit to hold office.

Zuma appoints Phiyega - enquiry as to her fitness to hold office.

'nuff said.

 

[biometrics]

Now, where's the report into how much taxpayer money the commission wasted to tell us a whole bunch of stuff we already knew?

Thought you said the cops was in the right to kill them?

 

[Necuno]

Thought you said the cops was in the right to kill them?

Thats why they are getting first aid training

Shoot to first aid!

 

[LazyLion]

Thought you said the cops was in the right to kill them?

Kinda yes... but the subsequent evidence showed how the cops arrived there armed to the teeth looking for a showdown and how many of the miners were killed after the initial barrage of shooting further up the hill in the minutes afterward. I think it is fair to say the police were unprofessional and murderous. but yes, I also still think the miners must bear their part of the blame.... as the commission has rightly pointed out.

 

[LazyLion]

Marikana commission: Probe needed to determine criminal liability

Johannesburg - The Farlam Commission has found that investigations must determine whether anyone should be prosecuted for deaths at Marikana, and if the police can be held liable.

"[The commission] recommends a full investigation under the director of public prosecutions in the North West with a view to ascertaining criminal liability on the part of all members of the SAPS involved in all incident in scene 1 and 2," President Jacob Zuma said, summarising the commission's report.

"A team should be appointed, headed by a senior state advocate, together with independent experts in the reconstructions of crime scenes, ballistics and forensic pathologist practitioners and senior investigators from Ipid and any such experts as necessary.

"[The commission] recommends that all the killings and assaults that took place between the 11th and 15th of August [2012] should be referred to the director of public prosecutions for further investigation and to determine whether there is a basis for prosecution."

Zuma said the commission recommended that the minister of police and national police commissioner should take care when making public statements or addressing members of SAPS.

"They should not say anything which might have the effect of ‘closing the ranks’ or discourage members who are aware of inappropriate actions, from disclosing what they know," he said.

"The SAPS and its members should accept that they have a duty of public accountability and truth-telling, because they exercise force on behalf of all South Africans, the commission states."

He said the commission recommended that the staffing and resources of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) should be reviewed to ensure that it is able to carry out its functions effectively.

Ahmed Areff, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...eded-to-determine-criminal-liability-20150625

 

[LazyLion]

Phiyega the 'largest victim' in Marikana report - Mpofu

Johannesburg - National police commissioner Riah Phiyega seemed to be the biggest loser in the report on the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, the miners' lawyer said on Thursday evening.

Advocate Dali Mpofu, who represented the injured and arrested mineworkers at the Marikana inquiry, was responding to the release of the report by President Jacob Zuma on national television.

Mpofu said the legal team intended on reading the full 600-page report.

"[It] probably covers certain highlights of what the president wanted to take out [of the report]," Mpofu said during an interview with the public broadcaster following the president's address.

"I think it would be prudent for us to read the 600-page report. That's what we intend to do.

"We are hoping to read it in two days, not three months," he said, in what seemed to be a jibe at Zuma.

The Marikana commission, chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam, handed the final report to Zuma on March 31.

Mpofu said he would be meeting with the injured and arrested mineworkers on Sunday.

Reflecting on what Zuma said, Mpofu sai Phiyega was the "largest victim". The report said Phiyega should face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.

He said the biggest question on everyone's mind was how high up accountability was going to go.

The real culprits will come out

But Mpofu said this was only the first round and the matter would not rest here.

'The real culprits will come out'

There were many who believed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was to blame for the shooting on August 16 2012 when 34 mineworkers were killed.

However, the commission found that Ramaphosa could not be held accountable for the deaths of the striking workers.

Asked if he was disappointed in this finding, Mpofu replied: "It's not for me to be disappointed or overjoyed.

"It was the clients' view that police there were under some influence. We were able to secure evidence in other people's views... On the very first day they were speculating this was the case... I know they hold some strong views... this is why I'm saying this is not the last of this."

Mpofu said he was disappointed that Zuma had not given 48 hours notice before releasing the report as it was recommended by the High Court in Pretoria.

"If we had been given that notice, we would have been there in Marikana," he said.

Genevieve Quintal, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Phiyega-the-largest-victim-in-Marikana-report-Mpofu-20150625

 

[Nerfherder]

Kinda yes... but the subsequent evidence showed how the cops arrived there armed to the teeth looking for a showdown and how many of the miners were killed after the initial barrage of shooting further up the hill in the minutes afterward. I think it is fair to say the police were unprofessional and murderous. but yes, I also still think the miners must bear their part of the blame.... as the commission has rightly pointed out.

Ya, the last part is the confusing part. It should be said though that there is still a question over who did the killings at the koppie.

 

[biometrics]

It should be said though that there is still a question over who did the killings at the koppie.

There is?

 

[yebocan]

pheello tlali ‏@PJ_Pheello 59m59 minutes ago
#MarikanaReport the only thing I picked up here is first aid training for police! @HajraOmarjee or did I miss something?

Sums it up for me...

 

[grok]

So Ramaphosa was absolved of everything, one might even speculate he'll be video'd shouting at reporters on a golf course for the terminally ill any time soon..

 

[LazyLion]

Release of Marikana report should help heal nation - ANC

Johannesburg - The release of the Marikana report on Thursday evening finally brings to light the truth around "this tragic incident", the ANC said.

"We further trust that it should bring our nation a step closer to healing. The African National Congress once again sends its deepest condolences to the families of our compatriots who lost their lives at Marikana," national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement.

"We further send our sympathies to those who were injured. We reiterate the President’s [Jacob Zuma's] sentiment that such incidents have no place in a democratic South Africa."

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.

'We should seek to unite our people'

Kodwa said the Marikana shootings could not be used to further divide South Africa.

"If anything, we should seek to unite our people to ensure that such never happens again.

"The right to peaceful strike action in South Africa is sacrosanct and we welcome the recommendations made by the Commission to strengthen the capacity of the state to discharge its duties of public order policing," he said.

"We call on government to urgently implement all the recommendations of the Commission."

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane, however, said on Twitter that he was "deeply saddened tonight by the #MarikanaReport. An injustice and a betrayal of all of us as citizens. Cry the beloved the country".

The commission further recommended that national police commissioner Riah Phiyega should face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.

“The commission has also recommended that there must be an inquiry into the fitness to hold office of the national police commissioner as well as the North West provincial commissioner,” Zuma read from the summary of the commission’s report, which is over 600 pages long.

“I have written to the national commissioner to inform her of the recommendations pertaining to her,” he said.

The relevant ministers would study the report and advise Zuma on how the recommendations were being implemented.

In concluding, he said South Africa should learn from the deaths of the 44 people, and use it to build a united and peaceful society.

“The Marikana incident was a horrendous tragedy that has no place in a democracy where all citizens have a right to protest and where workers have a right to go on strike peacefully and to negotiate working conditions with their employers peacefully.”

Adam Wakefield, News24
Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...a-report-should-help-heal-nation-ANC-20150625

 

[Creag]

"[The commission] recommends a full investigation under the director of public prosecutions in the North West with a view to ascertaining criminal liability on the part of all members of the SAPS involved in all incident in scene 1 and 2," President Jacob Zuma said, summarising the commission's report.

The outcome means that the cost to taxpayer (whatever it has already amounted to) is going carry on spiraling. The fleecing continues.

 

[daveza]

experts who have experience in dealing with crowds armed with sharp weapons and firearms.

Please, in every single strike / march / protest pangas and knobkerries are openly displayed and the police do absolutely nothing about it as they are seen as traditional weapons.

The ANC is not renowned for threatening anything 'traditional'.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Any mention in the report about the murders before the day on the koppie? How about criminal prosecutions for them?

 

[daveza]

So the result of the enquiry.... is to have more enquiries.