Marikana Report is finally released
JOBURG — The Marikana report is finally revealed to the public.
President Jacob Zuma released the much-awaited Marikana Report on June 25, following the findings from the Marikana Commission.
The commission was appointed after 34 miners were gunned down by SAPS members at Lonmin mine in Marikana, on 16 August 2012. The tragedy was the worst of its kind in a democratic South Africa.
The commission, chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam found that Lonmin did not use the best endeavours to resolve the disputes that arose between itself and the workers, those who participated in the unprotected strike and between the workers who did not participate in the strike.
It clarified that Lonmin did not respond accordingly to the threat and outbreak of violence.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was allegedly called as the reason behind the deaths of the 34 miners by the Counsel for Injured and Arrested Persons. The commission found that such allegations were groundless.
Findings against the National Union of Mineworkers reveal that they wrongly advised rock drill operators that negotiations with Lonmin would not be possible until the end of the two-year wage agreement. The union, in turn, encouraged and assisted non-striking workers to go to the shaft in circumstances where there was actual danger of being killed or injured.
The report further states that individual strikers and loose groupings of strikers promoted a situation of conflict which indirectly or directly, led to the deaths of Lonmin’s security guards and non-striking workers.
According to the report, the police drew up an operational plan which entailed encircling a small group of strikers, who would be in the koppie in the morning. At around 3.40pm on the day, a tactical option was implemented which resulted in the death of strikers.
The Commission found that the police operation should not have taken place on 16 August because of the defects in the plan.
The police should have waited until the following day, when the original encirclement plan, which was substantially risk free, could have been implemented.
