HAS the smoking gun been found in Marikana?

If the startling and dramatic revelations by advocate Dali Mpofu at the Farlam commission are anything to go by, that seems to be the case.

Presenting his opening statement on behalf of the injured and arrested miners at the Marikana commission, Mpofu revealed that he was in possession of e-mail and other correspondence between Cyril Ramaphosa, executives of Lonmin, the ministers of Police and Mineral Resources and the ANC's secretary-general that point to a "toxic collusion between the state and capital".

What a damning characterisation!

Let us dissect the "Ramaphosa e-mail" (the smoking gun?).

It states, among others, that "what was taking place were criminal acts and must be characterised as such. In line with this characterisation, there needs to be concomitant action to address the situation."

What does this statement mean? Does it mean police needed to cheer the strikers on?

Or does it mean police should unleash all the might they can muster when dealing with the so-called criminals?

Undoubtedly, Ramaphosa called for stern action, to what extent, only he can shed more light on that.

The conduct of some of the striking miners was indeed out of line and needed to be condemned.

Law enforcement agencies needed to take appropriate (legal) action to nip it in the bud.

However, did the unacceptable conduct justify the cold-bloodedness and callousness of the police on that fateful day?

Reports point to police pursuing miners hundreds of metres from the infamous koppie and gunning them down at point-blank range.

The statement attributed to the North West police commissioner also points to a planned massacre with the statements of the national police commissioner Ria Phiyega vindicating this view.

To then have a leader of Ramaphosa's calibre being implicated (rightly or wrongly) in a "toxic collusion between state and capital to commit extra-judicial murders" is tragic and regrettable.

Given his legal and political background, it has to be taken for granted that he appreciates the sanctity of life and, most importantly, while pursuing profits, he should br guided by a different morality that does not permit him to be assimilated into the dominant business culture of "dog eats dog". He has to be a change agent.

Rather than entrenching the current mining narrative of glaring inequality and blatant exploitation, he has to fearlessly contribute to writing a new script. Unfortunately, he has not done much to confirm his change agent credentials, particularly as far as Lonmin is concerned.

Instead of going on a charm offensive by offering to testify at the Farlam commission, he and "his choir in government and business" should hang their heads in shame.

Marikana should not have happened. Should there have been a clear-minded leadership and not one preoccupied with feathering their own nests and fighting for political survival, certain things like offering workers decent wages and improving their living conditions could have been done to avoid the tragedy.

• Mogomotsi Mogodiri is a political and media commentator