Marikana: Families blame Lonmin, police
2012-12-04 11:50
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Rustenberg - Families of the mineworkers who
were shot on August 16 believe the SA Police Service (Saps) and Lonmin mine are
responsible for the Marikana tragedy, the Farlam Commission heard on Tuesday.
Counsel for the 34 families, advocate Dumisa
Ntsebeza SC, was cross-examining Association of Mineworkers and Construction
Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa.
Ntsebeza told Mathunjwa that the
"families are keen to know how their relatives met their deaths" on
August 16.
"I want to satisfy myself and assist the
commission in getting your position, because the families have heard your role
in not assisting the situation on August 16," he said.
"We, as the families, hold Saps and
Lonmin to be responsible for the deaths."
Ntsebeza said it was evident there was
animosity between Amcu and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the build
up to August 16.
"At the end of this inquiry, I will
submit that in the days leading to August 16, it appears there was no love lost
between NUM and Amcu.
"Between the leadership of the two
unions, you do not see eye to eye. Is that a fair submission?" he asked.
Mathunjwa responded: "Not in person, but
[we differ] on issues."
Ntsebeza said that of the 34 people who died
on August 16, 10 were members of the NUM, 17 of Amcu and seven were
"un-unionised".
Ntsebeza read an article narrating how
Mathunjwa was expelled from the NUM in 1999 after he refused to attend an
internal disciplinary hearing chaired by the ANC's now secretary-general Gwede
Mantashe in Douglas.
Mathunjwa agreed.
However, he said he had not received any
communication of his expulsion from the NUM other than that no deduction of
union fees was reflected on his payslip.
The three-member commission, chaired by
retired judge Ian Farlam, is probing the deaths of 44 people in strike-related
violence at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West.
The dead include 34 people shot dead by the
police, who opened fire while trying to disperse a group of strikers gathered
on a hill near the mine on August 16.
In the preceding week, 10 people, among them
two policemen and two security guards, were hacked to death near the mine.
President Jacob Zuma announced the commission
in August. Zuma said it would compete its work within four months, and would
have to submit its final report a month later.
- SAPA
