Grieving miners’ families break down at SA inquest

Agencies/Johannesburg

Family members of the miners shot by police at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana on August 16 react as evidence was shown yesterday at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry in Rustenburg

Grief-stricken relatives wailed inconsolably yesterday as they watched footage of their loved ones gunned down by police, as an inquest into South Africa’s bloody industrial unrest resumed. Numerous women started sobbing and covered their faces with handkerchiefs as the inquiry viewed media footage of police shooting dead 34 people on August 16 at the Lonmin platinum mine - a spasm of violence that has been compared to apartheid-era state brutality. The probe was forced to pause when some family members broke down at the images of shooting and bodies falling in the dust of Marikana, a town northwest of Johannesburg, the Sapa news agency reported. Many family members from rural areas saw the footage - already etched onto South Africa’s collective consciousness - for the first time yesterday. After the break, family members could watch the film in a separate room, and speak to counsellors. Many of the victims were killed away from the cameras, police lawyers testified earlier. One video showed provincial police commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo telling reporters “I do not want to explain to you what we will do if they (protesters) won’t move... but today we are ending this matter.” President Jacob Zuma launched the probe a week after the August shooting as violent illegal mine strikes started spreading across the country. In all, 46 people were killed at the Lonmin mine, some in clashes between miners. Two of the dead were police officers who were hacked and beaten to death. Lonmin agreed to up to 22% pay hikes for the miners in September after a six-week stoppage. In a related development, Gold Fields yesterday fired 8,500 workers who refused to halt an illegal stoppage at its KDC East mine.“All 8,500 people who were on strike did not come back. They did not return to work, so we have issued dismissal letters to all of them,” spokesman Sven Lunsche told AFP. Workers have 24 hours to appeal their dismissal, he added. Workers at the last striking mine of the world’s fourth gold producer in Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, had ignored an ultimatum to clock in at 4pm (1400 GMT). The firm let go 1,500 strikers at its KDC West mine on October 18, though most later appealed their dismissal. Mass dismissals are not unheard of in South Africa and are often part of a hard-ball negotiating strategy on the part of mine owners. Tens of thousands of workers across South Africa’s mining sector have been involved in a spate of illegal strikes over pay and conditions. The stayaways have crippled production in a sector that fuels 19% of South Africa’s economy, prompting pressure from employers, government and even the workers’ own unions.