Cop concedes Marikana scene might have been tampered with

The police officer tasked with bagging the evidence after the lethal clash with striking mineworkers in Marikana on 13 August 2012, has conceded the scene might have been tampered with.

Following a gruelling four days in the witness box, Lieutenant-Colonel Moses Mushwana was on Thursday afternoon forced to admit it was at the very least a possibility.

This after a statement deposed to by one of his colleagues who had also been on the scene that day was read into the record.

Mushwana’s colleague – who had arrived 40 minutes ahead of him – had in his statement noted there were almost a dozen cartridge casings lying next to one of the deceased and that they had been collected by the Rustenburg Local Crime Records Centre, where Mushwana works.

The only problem was that Mushwana knew nothing about them.

He found a number of casings at the scene but none in the spot his colleague had indicated.

Six police officers are currently on trial in the North West High Court, where they face charges of murder and attempted murder levelled against them in connection with the clash, which took place on 13 August 2012 and saw five people – including three mineworkers and two policemen – killed.

Among the accused is former North West deputy commissioner Major-General William Mpembe.

In 2014, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana massacre and the events leading up to it, found the police’s use of tear gas and stun grenades that day had been “unreasonable and unjustifiable” and that it had been the catalyst for the lethal clash. Mpembe is said to have given the instruction to fire.

Also in the dock is retired Colonel Salmon Vermaak.

Retired Colonel Salmon Vermaak one of the six members of the South African Police Service at the North West High Court where the trial relating to the events that lead to the death of three mine workers and two Police officers at Marikana in August 2016. 22 October 2020. Picture: Jacques Nelles

After the mineworkers had tried to flee, the state says Vermaak instructed the remaining accused – Constable Nkosana Mguye and Warrant Officers Katlego Sekgweleya, Masilo Mogale and Khazamola Makhubela – to go after them in pursuit of a rifle they were believed to have stolen and that Phumzile Sokanyile ended up being shot in the back as a result.

Mpembe is facing four counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. His co-accused, meanwhile, are facing one count of murder.

Mpembe and Vermaak are also facing additional charges of defeating the ends of justice for allegedly lying at the Farlam Commission.

The trial finally kicked off earlier this month and Mushwana was called to the stand on Monday, when he testified to having visited the scene on the day and on the following day and then again in October.

The defence has over the course of the week tore into Mushwana’s evidence, though.

On Wednesday, Kobus Burger – who is acting for Vermaak – questioned the career cop on the photographs of Sokanyile’s body he had taken and pointed to the unnatural positioning of a panga in his hand, raising suspicions of tampering.

But Henko Scholtz – for Mguye, Sekgweleya, Mogale and Makhubela – was more blunt.

“You cannot deny it’s possible that there was tampering with the scene,” he said to Mushwana after reading out his colleague’s statement.

“I cannot deny that,” Mushwana replied.

Read more: Murdered Marikana worker may have been stabbed to death

The statement also referenced stab wounds on Sokanyile’s body.

“I also observed a stab wound on the left side, next to the neck, and another stab wound on the left cheek and at the back of his head,” it read. And earlier yesterday, Mushwana – who had made no mention of having observed any stab wounds on Sokanyile’s body during his time in the box – was also questioned about this.

But he offered up only a brief reply, saying: “I don’t know what to comment”.

The case is set down until the end of this week, when it is expected to be postponed.

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