South Africa starts investigating mine violence

MARIKANA, South Africa (AP) ? A judicial panel Monday investigated the rocky site where South African police killed 34 striking miners on August 16.

Crime experts showed the commission of inquiry the scene of the police shootings that were South Africa's worst state violence since apartheid ended in 1994. President Jacob Zuma ordered the judicial investigation to determine the causes of the police killings which shook the nation.

More than 100 people, including many protesting against the killings, followed the members of the judicial panel as they visited the scene. "Don't let the police get away with murder," was written on placards carried by several protesters.

Among those participating in inquiry is George Bizos, former lawyer for Nelson Mandela and now of the Legal Resources Center, which is representing some family members of the dead miners.

In addition to those killed, some 78 were injured and more than 250 arrested in the incident.

During the tour, a crime expert pointed out where bodies and shotgun cartridges were found.

Monday was the first day of the four-month-long investigation into the killings at the Marikana mines. At least 12 more people were killed in other violence, including two policemen, bringing the total death toll during the strike to 46.

"This is very important to us," said a Marikana miner watching the group navigating the scene of the police shootings. "I hope those involved are found out and they must be brought to jail."

"We are still afraid," he said of the police.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The inquiry launched Monday focuses on violence at a Lonmin PLC platinum mine 94 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.

The Marikana commission of inquiry, chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam, will determine the roles played by the police, Lonmin, the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. It will also determine whether any of those investigated could have put measures into place to prevent the violence.

"It is very important the truth of what happened should become clear as soon as possible," Farlam said Monday morning at the Civic Center in Rustenburg, where hearings began before the visit to the Marikana site. "Our country weeps for this unnecessary and tragic loss of life."

The police shootings of the striking miners were "a turning point which reveals the state is willing to go to break the working class organizations, and it's of particular concern that the major trade unions didn't take full action in getting permission for the gatherings," said Peter Alexander, the South African research chair on social change at University of Johannesburg.

Alexander said he can't recall so many people being killed for a strike since 1922, when he said mostly white miners went on strike and were killed. He noted the importance of the events before the Aug. 16 shootings, saying that the earlier killings and who was responsible for them may give more insight as to why the shot dead so many strikers that day.

"It's important that the investigation reveals the truth about the killings," said Alexander. "I'm very concerned that ordinary people could have the opportunity to collect information about the inquiry. And I'm very concerned that there is no relationship of trust between the people of the inquiry and the people of Marikana."

He said: "I hope that it will be established that police engaged in unlawful killings, and hopefully if we establish what happened so that a massacre like this won't happen again.

No family members of those killed participated in the commission's visit to the site of the police shootings. Judge Farlam said that the tour would be recorded for family members. At the meeting before the tour, the commission read the names of the dead and asked that any family present stand, but none did.

Families of many of the miners live far away, in the Eastern Cape, Swaziland and Lesotho. Dumisa Ntsebeza, an advocate for the families of those who died, said some didn't know an official inquiry was happening.

He asked that financial support be given to the families to enable them to attend the inquiry and that the process be postponed by 14 days. Farlam said the government would be helping the families travel to the inquiry, but did not grant a postponement.

The commission's tour of the informal settlements around the Lonmin mine and the shafts will continue Tuesday. Public hearings are set to begin Wednesday, with families of the dead given priority seating. The commission asked the news media, which has graphic videos of the police shootings, hand over material for examination.

The first phase of the inquiry will look at the early events. The second phase will examine Lonmin's role in the violence and the company's conduct. The third stage will look at the unions and actions of non-unionized strikers, and the final phase will examine the actions and omissions of the police.

The nearly six-week strike at Marikana was resolved with a wage deal that saw miners gain a 22 percent pay rise and return to work Sept. 20. The strikes, however, have spread to other platinum and gold mines in South Africa and workers are increasingly rejecting their unions and instead choosing their own representatives to speak directly with management.

As those in Marikana tried to find answers to the shootings, labor unrest continued.

The National Union of Mineworkers, or NUM, said one of its officials was in intensive care Monday after a petrol-bomb attack on his house Friday night. The union said the victim is the union's top official at Anglo American Platinum's Khomanani branch and that the attack was carried out by people who are deliberately intimidating union members. The NUM did not elaborate, but a new union has purportedly been intimidating NUM leaders in its bid to gain more members and bargaining power. Workers have been on strike for weeks at Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer.

Meanwhile South Africa's truck drivers, represented by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, or SATAWU, said it is organizing peaceful protests and meetings of its members across the country. Truck drivers have been on strike for a week for higher pay.

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Associated Press writer Rodney Muhumuza in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-starts-investigating-mine-violence-120246117.html

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