New Marikana research vindicates miners

Wednesday 15 August 2018 - 5:30pm

MARIKANA - The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has released new research into the Marikana massacre, six years after the tragedy.

34 mineworkers were shot dead by police on 16 August 2012.

 

READ: The Killing Koppie: where miners dodged bullets and police dodged accountability

10 other people, including police officers and security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

The new research is based on photographs, witness statements and forensic evidence.

The report found that police were not under fire from miners but instead heard gunshots from their colleagues on the opposite side of the koppie. 

According to Nomzamo Zondo, director at the Litigation at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), the police believe they are not to blame for the incident and rather that everyone else must carry the blame, including the dead and their families.

Additionally, the ISS report found that a statement by former police commissioner Riah Phiyega, which revised events, served as a template which SAPS members used to close ranks and mislead the public.

Judge Ian Farlam denied the accusation the family members of deceased Marikana miners were neglected during his inquiry into the tragedy. 

Farlam chaired the commission which investigated the deaths of the 44 people who were killed during the wage strikes at Lonmin mine in August 2012.

WATCH: Remembering Marikana, 6 years on

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute said it's time police accept they were the aggressors in the Marikana massacre. 

Meanwhile, Lonmin mine held a ceremony in honour of those killed during the Marikana tragedy on Wednesday.

The ceremony was only attended by the family members of those who lost their lives before 16 August 2012.

They say the country only seems to remember the 34 mineworkers who were gunned down by police on that day and not their loved ones.

 

 



 

Source
eNCA

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