SA to investigate police brutality claims

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has instructed the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to investigate the claims of police brutality at the Lonmin mine, Mthethwa’s spokesman Zweli Mnisi said.
The investigation team, led by the head of IPID directorate Francois Beukman, will submit a report to the minister “urgently,” Mnisi said.
“The minister would then make pronouncements based on these findings,” Mnisi said.
Thousands of miners at the Lonmin Marikana Platinum Mine in North West Province started a protest to press their demand for a rise in salaries on August 10. But violence erupted among the miners belonging to different trade unions.
In nearly a week of fighting between rival miner unions, 10 people were killed, including two police officers and two security guards.
The miners later clashed with police deployed to monitor the situation.
The clashes left 34 miners killed and more than 78 others injured in what is believed to be the worst mine tragedy in post-apartheid era.
Police have insisted they fired on the miners after being attacked.
A video footage released by major local media on Tuesday showed it was the miners who opened fire first.
President Jacob Zuma has urged the nation to avoid finger- pointing and recrimination, stressing the importance of unity “against violence from whatever quarter.”
Meanwhile, observers fear the presidential inquiry into the tragedy at Marikana will not reveal the whole truth or prove who was responsible for the massacre.
The commission of inquiry called to establish what happened at Marikana has been welcomed but civil society has warned that the terms of reference, while admirable, are not exhaustive.
On Thursday, President Jacob Zuma’s disclosed the members of the commission and the terms of reference under which they would conduct their investigation.
Retired judge Ian Farlam, a former Supreme Court of Appeal judge, will head the commission.
Farlam has been described as an experienced judge who would likely get buy-in from those investigated by the commission as he is not aligned to any political factions.
He will be supported by Bantubonke Tokota, who has served as a labour court judge, and a high court judge, Pinga Hemraj.
It’s unclear what kind of resources the commissioners will have in terms of support and investigative staff.
Its relationship and access to the criminal investigation being conducted by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate is also unclear.
Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said these details would be worked out between the commissioners and the department of justice.
Maharaj said that the commission of inquiry would be gazetted within the next few days and that the commission’s four-month deadline would then immediately begin.
Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said the terms of reference were impressive, describing them as “broad but not quite specific”.
This, together with the understanding that the terms of reference could be amended, would allow the commission to investigate issues that may not yet be apparent.
“It gives the commissioners more clout because if they get information about things that are important, then they can request that the president broaden the terms of reference,” he said, adding that this would give the commission more leeway in their investigation.
De Vos said the commissioners would have to be “bold and fearless” in their investigation.
However, De Vos added that it would be important to follow not just the progress of the commission but the actions taken once its recommendations are made.
“Commissions of inquiry are often about political management of a very politically damaging situation.
The big problem often is that there’s no political will to follow up and implement recommendations,” he said.
“Given our prosecuting service and the politicisation of the police service  . . . the chance of a recommendation (for investigation and prosecution) being executed properly is slim.”
‘Trend of violence’ NUM secretary general Frans Baleni said the terms of reference were acceptable but that the union hoped they would be broadened in order to take into account a “trend of violence” that had emerged over time.
“What we know is that at Impala we ended up with violence, there’s a party associated with those incidents. (At Marikana) there were a number of violent incidents, there’s a party associated with those incidents,” he said.
Although he would not name the party, this was a clear reference to rival union Amcu.
A coalition of Marikana community members, striking miners and civil society movements announced this week that there would be an “independent, people’s commission of inquiry” into the massacre that claimed the lives of 34 miners last week.
Vishwas Satgar, of the Democratic Left Front, said that at a meeting held at the University of Johannesburg on Wednesday there “had been deep scepticism about the government’s proposed inquiry”.
Former ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, meanwhile, said that the renegade youth league leaders “do not completely trust the entire process”.
Shivambu, together with expelled youth league leader Julius Malema and former secretary general Sindiso Magaqa, attended a memorial service for the slain miners in Marikana on Thursday.
The religious service — which was meant to be apolitical — quickly degenerated into a free-for-all. Armed workers stormed the venue, Malema proclaiming that the “democratically elected government has turned on its people” and ministers in attendance fled.
“We think there must still be a police case that is opened and a criminal procedure in a court of law where the people who have killed must be prosecuted,” he said.
Shivambu said that government should have used commission as an opportunity to deal with the conditions of mineworkers, and to engage with the social and economic contexts in which they live and work.
He said what was needed was a new minimum wage for mine workers, and for mines to provide workers with decent shelter. — Xinhua/Sapa.