THE police made a special decision to use sharp-pointed ammunition days before 34 miners were gunned down, said Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union lawyer Tim Bruinders, while cross examining Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega yesterday.
Bruinders asked Phiyega, at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, about the meetings she had with SA Police Service officials on August 13 last year.
Bruinders said the police revised their plan that day, three days before the August 16 massacre, to introduce R5 rifles and water cannons to bring the escalating situation in Marikana under control.
"Did anyone tell you that provision had been made for the use of sharp-pointed ammunition. Did anyone report that sharp-pointed ammunition was used on Monday August 13?" Bruinders asked.
Phiyega answered: "No... We did not discuss it in the meeting".
Then Bruinders submitted the police' s "occurrence book" as evidence to prove his point. But he was stopped short by Phiyega' s lawyer Ishmael Semenya, who asked to be first to go through the new evidence.
Phiyega also could not say whether or not it was the first time that she and her team made the call to introduce the R5 rifles and water cannons.
The R5 rifles were the same guns that were used to shoot the workers.
Like she has done with many other questions since she started testifying last month, Phiyega said her operational commanders would be best suited to answer.
It also emerged that the police meeting, which was one of three that were held that evening, also agreed that there should be "drastic escalation of resources" in Marikana where a wage dispute at Lonmin had turned violent.
At that time four people had been killed, two of them police officers.
In a statement made to the commission, North West deputy provincial commissioner Major-general Ganasean Naidoo said: "It was decided that a drastic escalation of police resources will be necessary to bring order as well as facilitate an investigation into the officer's murders."
However, Phiyega said she could not recall the specific details about the deployment but added that she normally gave the go-ahead for additional resources when necessary.
Bruinders said Phiyega, who met Lonmin management the night before the killing of mineworkers, had gone there to give the police direct orders. But she denied this, saying she was there to get "first-hand experience".
Special decision made to use sharp-pointed ammunition: Marikana
THE police made a special decision to use sharp-pointed ammunition days before 34 miners were gunned down, said Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union lawyer Tim Bruinders, while cross examining Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega yesterday.
Bruinders asked Phiyega, at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, about the meetings she had with SA Police Service officials on August 13 last year.
Bruinders said the police revised their plan that day, three days before the August 16 massacre, to introduce R5 rifles and water cannons to bring the escalating situation in Marikana under control.
"Did anyone tell you that provision had been made for the use of sharp-pointed ammunition. Did anyone report that sharp-pointed ammunition was used on Monday August 13?" Bruinders asked.
Phiyega answered: "No... We did not discuss it in the meeting".
Then Bruinders submitted the police' s "occurrence book" as evidence to prove his point. But he was stopped short by Phiyega' s lawyer Ishmael Semenya, who asked to be first to go through the new evidence.
Phiyega also could not say whether or not it was the first time that she and her team made the call to introduce the R5 rifles and water cannons.
The R5 rifles were the same guns that were used to shoot the workers.
Like she has done with many other questions since she started testifying last month, Phiyega said her operational commanders would be best suited to answer.
It also emerged that the police meeting, which was one of three that were held that evening, also agreed that there should be "drastic escalation of resources" in Marikana where a wage dispute at Lonmin had turned violent.
At that time four people had been killed, two of them police officers.
In a statement made to the commission, North West deputy provincial commissioner Major-general Ganasean Naidoo said: "It was decided that a drastic escalation of police resources will be necessary to bring order as well as facilitate an investigation into the officer's murders."
However, Phiyega said she could not recall the specific details about the deployment but added that she normally gave the go-ahead for additional resources when necessary.
Bruinders said Phiyega, who met Lonmin management the night before the killing of mineworkers, had gone there to give the police direct orders. But she denied this, saying she was there to get "first-hand experience".
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