Marikana cops 'shot my
testicles'
2013-02-26 22:28
Rustenburg - Police officers kicked and repeatedly
shot an injured mineworker at Lonmin mine’s platinum operation in Rustenburg,
the Farlam commission heard on Tuesday.
Mzoxolo Magidiwana said even though he was not a rock
drill operator, he joined the protest on 16 August to support his fellow
miners.
Together with thousands of other protesters,
Magidiwana said they decided to escape from the koppie near the mine, where
they had been meeting, when they realised police officers were surrounding them
with barbed wire.
"As soon as we emerged on the other side of the
kraal, we were met with rapid gunfire. I was hit on my left leg. I stumbled and
fell behind the others who had been shot, including Noki [a leader of the
protesters who was fatally shot]," said Magidiwana, who is on crutches.
He said the gunfire then stopped, briefly.
"Shortly afterwards I could hear voices of
policemen approaching the place where we had fallen. When they got to me, I was
again shot several times from close range while I was on the ground," said
Magidiwana.
"I sustained further shots in my abdomen. The
last shot caught my testicles and caused me some severe injury. I pleaded with
the police to rather kill me and told them my relatives' name[s], so they could
help identify my body."
In response to his plea to be finished off, the police
officers told him he was going to die anyway.
He said the policemen used their cellphones to take
photographs of the bodies lying around, while laughing.
Others kicked the bodies.
Magidiwana told the commission one policeman felt pity
for him and called for ambulances.
He lost consciousness and woke up after two weeks in
the intensive care unit of Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg.
He said he was later transferred to two other
hospitals, where he spent several weeks, before being discharged at the end of
November.
Throughout his stay in hospital, he was under police
guard.
"I am in severe pain from the wounds on my legs,
abdomen, elbow and testicles. I have been advised that there is a strong
possibility that I may never be able to father children," Magidiwana said
in his sworn affidavit presented to the commission.
Application to have hearing moved
Earlier, the commission received an application asking
that the ongoing public hearings be moved to Gauteng.
Advocate Dali Mpofu, for the mineworkers arrested on
16 August, asked the commission chairperson, retired judge Ian Farlam, to move
the hearings to a place close to either Pretoria or Johannesburg.
"Already there has been one extension until the
end of May 2013. Some of us are not optimistic that we will meet that second
deadline."
Mpofu said the lawyers were incurring numerous costs,
including travelling to Rustenburg, and they had less time to hold
consultations.
Several other parties, including the evidence leading
team, supported the application to move the venue.
Some parties said they would only support a move to
Pretoria.
Farlam said he would arrange a meeting with Justice
Minister Jeff Radebe to discuss moving the venue.
The commission is holding hearings in Rustenburg,
North West, as part of its inquiry into the deaths of 44 people during an
unprotected strike in Marikana last year.
On 16 August, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead
and 78 injured when the police opened fire while trying to disperse a group
which had gathered on a hill near the mine.
Ten people, including two police officers and two
security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.
In August, President Jacob Zuma announced the
establishment of the judicial commission of inquiry. He tasked it with
investigating the cause of the violence of 16 August and the preceding,
strike-related events.
The commission is mandated to conclude its
investigations by 31 May, and will have six weeks to submit its final report to
Zuma.
The hearings resume on Wednesday morning.
- SAPA
