Marikana Commission of Inquiry lawyers were paid a whopping R16-million for representing families of the victims of the August 2012 massacre.
This was for the services they rendered between March 2013 and November last year by Legal Aid SA. The period covered about 240 days of public hearings but Legal Aid SA insists that the mineworkers had no right to claim state-funded legal representation before the commission.
"Legal Aid SA concluded a memorandum of agreement with the miners in which it agrees to pay R16-million including VAT for 'services to be rendered' during 10 March 2013 to 15 November 2014. The services constitute the legal representation of the miners at the commission," reads the Constitutional Court submission by families of the mineworkers and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
Legal Aid SA wants the country's highest court to declare that it must fund legal representation in commissions of inquiry only when funding is available, in exceptional circumstances and subject to the discretion of Legal Aid SA chief executive.
Legal Aid SA says the mineworkers would have "arguably not satisfied" the "exceptional circumstances" requirement. Last year, it emerged that up to R5.13-million had been budgeted for the mineworkers' legal representation by Legal Aid SA.
In submissions on behalf of Lonmin mineworker Mzoxolo Magidiwana and others injured and arrested during the massacre, their lawyers Dali Mpofu SC and Mpati Qofa argue that when Legal Aid SA granted assistance to members of right wing white supremacist organisation Boeremag accused as a court ordered, in a trial which lasted for several years, millions of other deserving indigent persons were deprived of legal aid they would otherwise have received.
The lawyers are likely to score big as the families of victims are also preparing to lodge damages claims against the police if Farlam's report, which the retired judge submitted to President Jacob Zuma last week, finds that they shot the miners unlawfully. The Constitutional Court will hear Legal Aid SA's appeal next month.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
Marikana Commission: lawyers make a killing
Marikana Commission of Inquiry lawyers were paid a whopping R16-million for representing families of the victims of the August 2012 massacre.
This was for the services they rendered between March 2013 and November last year by Legal Aid SA. The period covered about 240 days of public hearings but Legal Aid SA insists that the mineworkers had no right to claim state-funded legal representation before the commission.
"Legal Aid SA concluded a memorandum of agreement with the miners in which it agrees to pay R16-million including VAT for 'services to be rendered' during 10 March 2013 to 15 November 2014. The services constitute the legal representation of the miners at the commission," reads the Constitutional Court submission by families of the mineworkers and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
Legal Aid SA wants the country's highest court to declare that it must fund legal representation in commissions of inquiry only when funding is available, in exceptional circumstances and subject to the discretion of Legal Aid SA chief executive.
Legal Aid SA says the mineworkers would have "arguably not satisfied" the "exceptional circumstances" requirement. Last year, it emerged that up to R5.13-million had been budgeted for the mineworkers' legal representation by Legal Aid SA.
In submissions on behalf of Lonmin mineworker Mzoxolo Magidiwana and others injured and arrested during the massacre, their lawyers Dali Mpofu SC and Mpati Qofa argue that when Legal Aid SA granted assistance to members of right wing white supremacist organisation Boeremag accused as a court ordered, in a trial which lasted for several years, millions of other deserving indigent persons were deprived of legal aid they would otherwise have received.
The lawyers are likely to score big as the families of victims are also preparing to lodge damages claims against the police if Farlam's report, which the retired judge submitted to President Jacob Zuma last week, finds that they shot the miners unlawfully. The Constitutional Court will hear Legal Aid SA's appeal next month.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
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