Police the focus of Marikana anger
May 15 2013 at 04:56pm
By Naledi Mailula
By Naledi Mailula
Reuters
A police officer
fires shots to disperse miners at Lonmin's Marikana operation. File photo:
Reuters
Rustenburg - Striking Lonmin
mineworkers directed their anger at police officers during last year's
wage-related unrest, the Farlam Commission was told on Wednesday.
“When the group realised their demands
of R12 500 (a month) would not be met, they started exerting more pressure on
the employer and directed their anger at police,” Maj-Gen Charl Annandale said.
Annandale, who headed the police's
tactical response team during the unrest, was under cross-examination at the
commission.
The commission, chaired by retired
judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during wage-related
unrest at Lonmin's operations in August.
Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers
in Marikana, North West, on August 16. Ten people, including two police
officers, were killed in strike-related violence the preceding week.
Annandale was responding to questions
from Lonmin lawyer, Schalk Burger, who asked what went wrong at Marikana.
Annandale said among other things, the
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union took workers' demands for a
higher wage as an opportunity to gain members.
“Not only had NUM (National Union of
Mineworkers) started losing members, but there was conflict between the
unions,” he said.
Nokukhanya Jele, for the SA Human
Rights Commission, asked Annandale about the crowd management training for
senior police officers who led the operation.
Jele pointed out that Annandale had
undergone four courses on crowd management in his years as a police officer.
Despite this Annandale had said he was not an expert in crowd management.
According to Jele there was no
indication in documents handed in by the SA Police Service that provincial
police commissioner, Luzuko Mbombo, had ever had any crowd control training.
“Mbombo's history shows she has taken
no training in public policing or crowd management,” said Jele. - Sapa
