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Popcru must pay us, say Marikana cop lawyers

Lawyers who represented police officers injured and killed days before the Marikana massacre are demanding that Cosatu affiliate Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) pay them for their services.

Mpho Mofomme represented Lieutenant Shitumo Baloyi at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry.

Baloyi was severely injured, and his colleague, Warrant Officer Ronnie Lepaaku, was murdered by striking mineworkers in Marikana on August 13 2012.

Mofomme and Advocate Louis Gumbi say they have not been paid for part of the six months they were at the commission.

The money owed to Mofomme and Gumbi is likely to be substantial and the duo have briefed former arms deal commission senior investigator Norman Moabi to represent them against Popcru.

Moabi declined to comment, saying only they were negotiating a settlement with Popcru.

In April, Sowetan reported that Legal Aid SA concluded a memorandum of agreement with lawyers representing mineworkers injured and arrested after the massacre to pay R16-million including VAT for services rendered between March 2013 and November last year.

But Legal Aid SA chief legal executive Patrick Hundermark complained that for every R1-million spent on providing funding for legal representation before the commission, 200 applicants who would otherwise qualify for assistance would be refused help.

The mineworkers' legal representatives have previously told North Gauteng High Court Judge Tati Makgoka that lawyers for state parties including then Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa cost taxpayers between R2-million to R3-million per month.

Makgoka also said the state parties' lawyers did not deny the cost of their legal representation and the judge found that the allegation should be accepted as factually correct.

The Marikana Commission of Inquiry sat for almost 300 days between October 2012 and November 2014.

Mofomme accused Popcru of sacrificing its members (Baloyi and Lepaaku) for political expediency by refusing to pay for their legal costs at the commission.

Last month, Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu reportedly said national police boss Riah Phiyega should not be implicated for her role in the Marikana massacre but that the commander in charge of the police unit at the time should take responsibility.

Popcru spokesman Richard Mamabolo said Popcru's lawyers issued a notice of exception to indicate Mofomme and Gumbi's summons were defective, vague and embarrassing, indicating they do not disclose the cause of action.

"This prompted the said lawyers (Mofomme and Gumbi) to remove the matter from the roll. As to the matter on negotiations, we are not aware of any such negotiations."

sidimbal@sowetan.co.za

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