THE government should show its compassion for the families of those killed in the Marikana massacre by providing them with some kind of material relief, including food parcels.

This should be done together with funding their attendance of the proceedings at the Marikana Commission Inquiry, where they will find out the truth about how their loved ones were killed.

"These poor people must not be made to chose between whether they want to hear how their loved ones were killed and being given material support to improve their lot," Advocate Osmond Mngomezulu of Socio-economic Rights Institute (SERI) told Sowetan yesterday.

Mngomezulu and his legal team - led by Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza - yesterday objected to the Department of Justice's comment that members of the families would rather be given the money to buy food than be put up in expensive hotels to attend the commission hearings.

Ntsebeza said it was the right of relatives of the deceased to attend the inquiry so as to find out how their relatives died.

l Also see Page 6