The future of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega is on the line after the judicial commission of inquiry into the Marikana Massacre recommended an inquiry be into her fitness to hold office.
It also called for an inquiry into the then North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Zukiswa Mbombo, 60‚ who has already resigned. She had led the police in the North West since 2010.
The conduct of the police was slammed by the Farlam report‚ released by President Jacob Zuma last night in a live television broadcast.
It urged the state advocate and crime scene experts to investigate the criminal liability of police.
But some families of those killed said last night they were not happy and called for more immediate action against the killers.
During a six-week strike in August 2012 at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine near Rustenburg ‚ 44 people died.
Violence over a wage dispute was fuelled by rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
Armed police shot and killed 34 miners on August 16 on a koppie near Wonderkop informal settlement, injuring 78. In the days before the shooting‚ 10 other people were killed around the platinum mine – including non-striking miners‚ security guards and two police officers who were hacked to death.
During the commission hearings in 2013‚ lawyers representing the slain workers had 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 workers refused to surrender their weapons and disperse.
It was also revealed that a day before the massacre‚ she had briefed Phiyega on the plan to disperse‚ disarm and arrest workers involved in the strike.
Zuma said the Commission had found the SAPS should not have acted that day as the plan was flawed, and should have waited to early the next morning to implement the initial plan of encircling the strikers and disarming them as they left through a narrow exit path.
The Commission also recommended that all the killings and assaults between August 11 and 15 should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate whether there was a basis for prosecution.
The mine owners, Lonmin, were criticised for not doing enough to resolve the dispute between itself and the workers who participated in the unprotected strike.
“Lonmin also insisted workers who were not striking should come to work despite the fact that it knew it was not in a position to protect them‚” Zuma said.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa‚ a Lonmin director at the time and accused of using his political influence to get police to act against the striking workers‚ was absolved.
“It cannot be said that Mr Ramaphosa was the cause of the massacre and the accusations against him are groundless.”
The Commission also absolved Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa, saying he did his best before the shootings to persuade strikers to lay down arms and leave the koppie.
However‚ Amcu officials “did not exercise effective control over its members and supporters”.
The NUM was criticised for telling rock driller operators that no negotiations with Lonmin were possible until the end of their two-year wage agreement‚ and also for failing to control its members to ensure their conduct was lawful.
Individual strikers were blamed for creating a situation of conflict.
“The propensity in South Africa presently for the carrying of sharp instruments and firearms and the associated violence, even in service delivery protests‚ requires the strict enforcement of the laws that prohibit such conduct,” the commission said.
Mthuthuzeli Xego, who lost his cousin Mafolosi Mabiya, said he feared that this was the end of it. “Nothing will happen – this will vanish into thin air like other cases investigated or there will be delays that last another five years. Where is the truth, South Africa?”
Nosipho Ntenetya of Dutywa, who lost her husband Mon gezeleli in the tragedy, said they had expected more from Zuma’s report.
“We expected him to elaborate more about what happened on that fateful day. We wanted him to talk about and reveal the culprits. We are disappointed by this. We will wait for a briefing from our lawyers, but honestly we are not happy.
“We wanted closure but there’s another long road ahead of us,” said Ntenetya.
Her comment was echoed by another widow, Nandipha Gunuza, who is now working at Lonmin, having taking over from her late husband, Bonginkosi Yona.
She said she also expected the names of those who shot and killed their spouses exposed.
“We waited for three years for the president to talk for a few minutes about this. We wanted to know who killed them, who commanded the killings. Their names must be exposed,” said Gunuza.
Mzoxolo Magidiwana, one of the miners injured in the shooting and later arrested for the murder of fellow protesters, added his disappointment at the findings.
He said he was upset the commission had found that Ramaphosa, former minerals and energy minister Susan Shabangu and former police minister Nathi Mthethwa were not responsible.
“We still maintain that the president wants to protect people who were influential in the way our fellow workers were killed,” Magidiwana said.
Magidiwana said both Mbombo and Phiyega had taken their instructions from their political masters.
“But the president says Ramaphosa, Shabangu and Mthethwa are not involved,” Magidiwana, who testified before the commission in 2013 while on crutches, said.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute’s director of litigation Nomzamo Zondo, who represented the families of 36 striking miners killed by police, said the president’s address had failed to reflect the horror of the Marikana massacre.
“At scene 2, police assassinated miners which is not reflected in the president’s speech and the public is none the wiser … We can’t explain to some of the families what this means for them.”
She also said the police had been made the scapegoats and the president had freed his government from any blame.
Top cop’s job is on the line
It also called for an inquiry into the then North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Zukiswa Mbombo, 60‚ who has already resigned. She had led the police in the North West since 2010.
The conduct of the police was slammed by the Farlam report‚ released by President Jacob Zuma last night in a live television broadcast.
It urged the state advocate and crime scene experts to investigate the criminal liability of police.
But some families of those killed said last night they were not happy and called for more immediate action against the killers.
During a six-week strike in August 2012 at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine near Rustenburg ‚ 44 people died.
Violence over a wage dispute was fuelled by rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
Armed police shot and killed 34 miners on August 16 on a koppie near Wonderkop informal settlement, injuring 78. In the days before the shooting‚ 10 other people were killed around the platinum mine – including non-striking miners‚ security guards and two police officers who were hacked to death.
During the commission hearings in 2013‚ lawyers representing the slain workers had 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 workers refused to surrender their weapons and disperse.
It was also revealed that a day before the massacre‚ she had briefed Phiyega on the plan to disperse‚ disarm and arrest workers involved in the strike.
Zuma said the Commission had found the SAPS should not have acted that day as the plan was flawed, and should have waited to early the next morning to implement the initial plan of encircling the strikers and disarming them as they left through a narrow exit path.
The Commission also recommended that all the killings and assaults between August 11 and 15 should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate whether there was a basis for prosecution.
The mine owners, Lonmin, were criticised for not doing enough to resolve the dispute between itself and the workers who participated in the unprotected strike.
“Lonmin also insisted workers who were not striking should come to work despite the fact that it knew it was not in a position to protect them‚” Zuma said.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa‚ a Lonmin director at the time and accused of using his political influence to get police to act against the striking workers‚ was absolved.
“It cannot be said that Mr Ramaphosa was the cause of the massacre and the accusations against him are groundless.”
The Commission also absolved Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa, saying he did his best before the shootings to persuade strikers to lay down arms and leave the koppie.
However‚ Amcu officials “did not exercise effective control over its members and supporters”.
The NUM was criticised for telling rock driller operators that no negotiations with Lonmin were possible until the end of their two-year wage agreement‚ and also for failing to control its members to ensure their conduct was lawful.
Individual strikers were blamed for creating a situation of conflict.
“The propensity in South Africa presently for the carrying of sharp instruments and firearms and the associated violence, even in service delivery protests‚ requires the strict enforcement of the laws that prohibit such conduct,” the commission said.
Mthuthuzeli Xego, who lost his cousin Mafolosi Mabiya, said he feared that this was the end of it. “Nothing will happen – this will vanish into thin air like other cases investigated or there will be delays that last another five years. Where is the truth, South Africa?”
Nosipho Ntenetya of Dutywa, who lost her husband Mon gezeleli in the tragedy, said they had expected more from Zuma’s report.
“We expected him to elaborate more about what happened on that fateful day. We wanted him to talk about and reveal the culprits. We are disappointed by this. We will wait for a briefing from our lawyers, but honestly we are not happy.
“We wanted closure but there’s another long road ahead of us,” said Ntenetya.
Her comment was echoed by another widow, Nandipha Gunuza, who is now working at Lonmin, having taking over from her late husband, Bonginkosi Yona.
She said she also expected the names of those who shot and killed their spouses exposed.
“We waited for three years for the president to talk for a few minutes about this. We wanted to know who killed them, who commanded the killings. Their names must be exposed,” said Gunuza.
Mzoxolo Magidiwana, one of the miners injured in the shooting and later arrested for the murder of fellow protesters, added his disappointment at the findings.
He said he was upset the commission had found that Ramaphosa, former minerals and energy minister Susan Shabangu and former police minister Nathi Mthethwa were not responsible.
“We still maintain that the president wants to protect people who were influential in the way our fellow workers were killed,” Magidiwana said.
Magidiwana said both Mbombo and Phiyega had taken their instructions from their political masters.
“But the president says Ramaphosa, Shabangu and Mthethwa are not involved,” Magidiwana, who testified before the commission in 2013 while on crutches, said.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute’s director of litigation Nomzamo Zondo, who represented the families of 36 striking miners killed by police, said the president’s address had failed to reflect the horror of the Marikana massacre.
“At scene 2, police assassinated miners which is not reflected in the president’s speech and the public is none the wiser … We can’t explain to some of the families what this means for them.”
She also said the police had been made the scapegoats and the president had freed his government from any blame.
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