Marikana families sue
police minister
2015-08-11 21:12
Adam Wakefield, News24
(Nardus
Engelbrecht, AFP)
Johannesburg - Families of the 37 mineworkers
killed in Marikana are taking on Police Minister Nathi Nhleko in
court.
The families, represented by the Socio-Economic
Rights Institute of SA (SERI), the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and Wits Law
Clinic, filed papers at the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday morning.
In a statement issued by SERI and LRC, they
said the majority of the mineworkers were the sole breadwinners in their
families. The deceased mineworkers also supported large extended families on
their "meagre income".
The 37 mineworkers supported a total of 326
dependants. Their families live in the North West, Eastern Cape, Gauteng,
Lesotho and Swaziland.
The families continued to "live in
unbearable conditions of grinding poverty, and, despite some ex gratia
assistance from charities and churches, remain destitute following their [the
mineworkers'] deaths", the SERI and LRC said.
The families are claiming compensation for:
- The loss of the financial support of the
deceased to their families;
- Grief and emotional shock caused by the
death of their husbands, fathers, brothers and caregivers;
- The medical expenses of psychological and
psychiatric treatment;
- The loss of family life and parental care.
"The families also claim a formal
apology from the minister of police for the loss of their loved ones," the
SERI and LRC said.
"An apology will bring much needed
closure to the families who feel they have been abandoned by the South African
government."
Kathleen Hardy, SERI attorney for the
families, said the suit shouldn't be necessary, as the Marikana Commission of
Inquiry spent more than two years establishing what was "already clear in
video and media footage: the SAPS are responsible for causing these
deaths".
On August 16 2012, police shot dead 34
striking mineworkers at Lonmin's mine in Marikana, in the North West. The
remaining three were killed on August 13, among 10 killed in the week prior.
The police ministry could not be reached for
comment.
