NUM questions miner over weapons
2013-03-12 17:32
Rustenburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
sought to establish on Tuesday how often miner Mzoxolo Magidiwana carried two
weapons during a wildcat strike by Lonmin mineworkers last August.
Karel Tip SC, for NUM, showed the Farlam Commission of
Inquiry two video clips where miners were seen singing and waving weapons above
their heads.
Tip asked Magidiwana if he saw himself in either of the
clips. The miner pointed out that he was in both.
In the second clip, taken on 16 August, Tip asked
Magidiwana if the "Kill the NUM" song was being sung while miners
were "clicking" two weapons above their heads.
Magidiwana responded: "That is correct. It was only
on the 16th [of August] that I had two weapons."
The commission heard that Magidiwana borrowed the extra
weapon from someone also present at the strike to sing the song.
Tip said the striking mineworkers sung the "Kill the
NUM" song while Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu)
president Joseph Mathunjwa addressed them on a hill near Lonmin's Marikana
platinum mine in the North West.
Magidiwana said he could not recall exactly when they sang
the song and who was addressing them, but he told Tip he knew the song and
offered to sing it to the commission.
Tip said Magidiwana was captured in one of the clips
"clapping hands with vigour and enthusiasm" while singing the song.
Magidiwana, speaking through an interpreter, said:
"That is correct."
Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners,
intervened, and said Tip needed to clarify whether he wanted to establish if it
was on two different occasions or two different video clips.
Mpofu told the commission that Magidiwana said at various
times that he had two weapons on only the one occasion.
Magidiwana also again told Tip that he could not recall
going to the hill on 15 August.
Cross-examination
Terry Motau SC, for Lonmin, started his cross-examination
shortly before tea-break.
He sought to establish why and when other Lonmin employees
joined the illegal strike by rock drill operators, and said some workers had
claimed they were stopped from going to work.
"When did you decide you want Lonmin to pay you R12 500
after deductions?"
Magidiwana responded: "The day all the Lonmin
workers decided to put tools down and demand the money."
The commission heard that 10 August was the last day
Magidiwana went to work.
Motau continued his cross-examination, asking: "Do
you want the commission to believe that on 10 August you had no idea that the R12
500 was already demanded and that Lonmin had already responded to the
demand?"
Magidiwana said: "Yes."
The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during
the strike at the mine in Marikana last year.
On 16 August, 34 strikers were shot dead and 78 were
injured when the police opened fire while trying to disperse a group 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 hearing resumes, with Motau cross-examining
Magidiwana.
- SAPA
