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UP IN ARMS: Workers from Lonmin's Marikana Mine in Rustenburg during their illegal strike. PHOTO: ANTONIO MUCHAVE

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South African police were forced to open fire to protect themselves from charging armed protesters at the Marikana mine, and 34 of the protesters were killed, Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega said on Friday.

She told a news conference in Rustenburg that 78 people were injured and 259 arrested in Thursday’s violence.

Weapons taken off the dead protesters included firearms stolen from the two police officers who were murdered earlier in the week.

“This is no time for blaming, this is no time for finger-pointing. It is a time for us to mourn...

“The police members had to employ force to protect themselves from the charging group,” Phiyega said.

• Elaborating further, Commissioner Phiyega said the shooting happened after the police had rolled out barbed wire.

As the police deployed the barbed wire, a group of protesters tried to outflank them.

"They were met by members of the police who tried to reposte the advance with a water cannon, teargas as well as stun grenades," Phiyega said.

"The attempt was unsuccessful and the police members had to employ force to protect themselves from the charging group."

The police were closing in on the group of protesters when "the militant group stormed towards the police, firing shots and wielding dangerous weapons", said Phiyega.

"Police retreated systematically and were forced to utilise maximum force."

The leaders of the Marikana protesters had tried to no avail to get a peaceful solution throughout the week, she said further.

• At the briefing, the police showed video footage of how two policemen were killed by a group of protesters.

The video showed police officials confronting the group, asking for weapons. The men told the police the weapons would be handed over at the mountain, and the police followed them there. At the hilltop, the incident turned violent and the two police officers were killed.

Journalists were also showed aerial photographs of the naked men doing a ritual with a sangoma.

The group was described as “pretty militant”.

Phiyega said: "By midday [Thursday] we had received information from various sources that the protesters would not end the strike peacefully and they would not leave their gathering point or disarm.

"The options were weighed and the decision taken that the SAPS needed to protect their members adjacent to the protesters."

Asked who gave the police the order to shoot, she replied: "As commissioner, I gave police the responsibility to execute the task they needed to do".

• The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has announced it is investigating the police’s role in the deaths of more than 30 people in a clash at Lonmin’s Marikana mine.

“The investigation will seek to establish if the police action was proportional to the threat posed by the miners,” spokesman Moses Dlamini said in a statement. “It is still [too] early in the investigation to establish the real facts around this tragedy,” he said.

Investigators were working with the criminal record centre and ballistics experts, and would focus on collecting all the relevant evidence to assist in the investigation.

Another 10 people — including two police officers, two security guards and three NUM shop stewards — were killed in separate incidents since the start of an illegal strike last Friday.

The strike was believed to be linked to rivalry between the NUM and Amcu over recognition agreements at the mine. Workers also wanted higher wages. They claimed to be earning R4,000 a month, with those living outside the hostel earning an extra R1,000. Reported demands have included pay of R12,500 a month.

The workers had based themselves on a hilltop near the mine.

Many of them were armed. They were shot when police tried to disperse the group.

Dlamini said IPID executive director Francois Beukman and a team from its national office would be briefed by an investigation team deployed at Marikana. He would then visit the scene.  

Investigators from the IPID’s offices in North West and Gauteng had been “working around the clock” since the shooting, he said.

Meanwhile, more than 50 police vehicles and at least 60 policemen were visible at the mine on Friday, ahead of a police briefing on the shootings. Two helicopters were intermittently circling the area.

Barbed wire added an extra layer of protection at the mine, which has been shut down for all except essential services.

Comments

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Sat May 18 20:32:40 SAST 2013 ::

Aug 17, 2012

januswanus

GOOD SHOT RIAH...TELL THEM. LET THEM GO CASTRATE THEIR LEADER MTHUNJWA. THEY WERE STUPIDS, THEY SHOULD LEARN LABOUR ACTS AND REGULATIONS. THEIR LEADERS SOLD THEM. PERIOD.
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Aug 17, 2012

KEKGATHETSE

eish we are a vilolent society maan! Mercy mercy mercy
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Aug 17, 2012

NeoBaBe

So the minors r reallr ready to die for the R12,500 per month!! I feel for their loved ones, they r ready to die n leave their loved ones starving!

Ungreateful bustards, instead of appreciating what they get, they become greedy.. If what they get is too small why cant they just leave n look for something better! they r strugling already, the money for their burial where on earth is it going to come from.. Think before u act MAAN. NNXAA..
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Aug 17, 2012

Ompas

Thanks at @NeoBaBe,this guys have basic salary plus drilling bonus and production target bonus when they achieve their monthly target
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Aug 17, 2012

star88

In South Africa, the Police are criminals who have NO respect for a BLACK person's life.

Under the racist white rule and their evil apartheid, the same Police murder BLACKS for fun.

Fast forward to 2012, under Jacob Zuma, Police murder BLACKS for the fun of it

Trigger happpy black SAPS fits the dictinary definition of a classic serial killer - with victims being all blacks. If you ask why white South Africans keep calling blacks stupid, then ask no more because this is a perfect example ...
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Aug 17, 2012

januswanus

@ Star88 You are so stupid. Why dont you say blacks lets learn to behave when we protests. You are a fool maan. Not suprise if you hate Zuma. Leave Zuma alone.
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Aug 17, 2012

Planga

34 People died!!!!and this commissioner is telling us this nonsense that we should mourn.....there is nothing to mourn about here because SAPS is not apologetic about this MXM!!!
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Aug 17, 2012

Ubufebe

@star88

You shud be shot just for fun you d.oos. The police where cornered by the mob and their only way out was to open fire on the Panga carrying thugs.
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Aug 17, 2012

Lehido

Like I said this morning, those miners were ready to k!ll, like they did the whole of last week.......they had all sorts of amunition, and the dead polices' guns......What was the Police suppose to do?...Hug and kiss them?...i think not...

They protected themselves and I applaud them for that, it's unfortunate that kids lost their parents.....

Good call Commissioner!

The sangoma saga just cracks me up...lol..What did they think will happen after the ritual, Disappear?...Ungreatful hooligans..
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Aug 17, 2012

BabyNono87

This time the SAPS is not to blame, how many times did they plead with them, why do we tend to treat police officers like DOGS. So Star88, what u are trying to tell us is that the police were supposed to stand there and do nothing while these unruly protesters with their dangerous weapons charge on them? If they turned around and ran for dear life, u were going to be the first person to critisize them. Police Officers are human at the end of the day, they have to think for their safety.
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