Miner recalls day he was shot
2013-02-14 17:30
Rustenburg - A miner from Lonmin platinum's Karee mine
told the Farlam commission of inquiry on Thursday about being shot, assaulted
and left to die on 11 August last year.
"I felt a cold substance on my back as we were
running. It drew my attention that I was shot," Vusimuzi Mandla
Mabuyakhulu said, speaking through an interpreter.
"No one was prepared to help another man. It was
difficult because we were all running away... NUM members were following from
behind and found me lying on the road."
When the men, dressed in National Union of Mineworkers
(NUM) attire, questioned him about where he worked, Mabuyakhulu said he lied to
save his life.
He told the commission that one of the men said he was
lying and that he was a member of the Association of Mineworkers and
Construction Union.
"Then one man appeared from the side and said 'let's
finish him up'."
Mabuyakhulu said a man on his left had a spear. He struck
him over the back with the handle until it broke.
"In front of me, a man with white overalls and a NUM
T-shirt had a butcher's knife in his hand," Mabuyakhulu recalled.
"I felt a blow on the back of my head and lost
consciousness. After they left me, I came to and tried to crawl away...."
The commission heard Mabuyakhulu was unable to say on
which day he regained consciousness. He also did not know at which hospital he
was treated.
Prior to the shooting and the assault, the rock drill
operator told the commission that before 10 August, the rock drillers decided
that no union should be present when they went to the mine's management to
discuss a wage increase.
He said one of the reasons they decided this was because
"it had become clear that NUM indicated that it would not be able to
discuss wages for rock drill operators".
On 10 August, they met at the Wonderkop stadium and made
a decision that their representatives should meet with the employer. He said
the security guards at the offices were armed. Five representatives went to
speak to management.
"The employer told them the NUM said the employer
shouldn't talk to striking workers," he said.
The workers agreed that they would go to the NUM's
offices for clarity on 11 August.
Report back
On the morning of 11 August, they all gathered at the
Wonderkop stadium where they received various reports that NUM members had shot
some people, and that miners were forced at gunpoint to return to work.
He said while they were walking they came across a group
of singing NUM members.
He heard two gunshots and they started running, which is
when he was shot.
The commission heard that the police took his statement
on 17 August, and that there were language barriers.
"There are certain things that are incorrect in the
statement," Mabuyakhulu said in evidence led by Dali Mpofu, representing
the miners injured and arrested.
He indicated he still had numbness on his scalp.
The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during
an unprotected strike at Lonmin's Marikana mine.
On 16 August, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead and
78 injured when police opened fire while trying to disperse a group that had
gathered on a hill near the mine.
Ten people, including two police officers and two
security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.
The commission continues, with Mpofu leading Mabuyakhulu's
evidence.
- SAPA
