Police, Lonmin criminally liable, commission told

A Business Day report notes that while the police have so far received the lion's share of blame, the Legal Resources Centre said yesterday that if the police were to be held criminally liable, Lonmin could not be excused. This followed argument by the SA Human Rights Commission's counsel, Michelle le Roux, that the police operation was so negligently planned and commanded that it was inevitable the police would need to use lethal force. The risk of multiple deaths was 'both foreseeable and foreseen', Le Roux said. The report notes that Legal Resources Centre counsel Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said by the same reasoning, Lonmin was also liable; and not just for the 34 people who were killed by the police on the 16th but also for the 10 who died in the preceding week. The company had a legal duty to protect its workers and had failed to do so. It had twice been told by the police that if the police were to do what the company was suggesting, blood would be shed. Full Business Day report (subscription needed)

Le roux accused police of not engaging openly and fully with the commission, resorting to 'drip-feeding' information. Police missed deadlines for submission of statements and when new deadlines were set, these were missed, too. She said police deliberately concealed and tailored evidence to suit its case. 'It seemed this drip-feeding was in response to damaging facts emerging in the commission,' she is quoted as saying in a report on the News24 site. This implied that evidence was eked out as a means of damage control, she suggested. Full report on the News24 site

Advocate George Bizos SC, for the Legal Resources Centre, was also adamant the SAPS be held accountable for the deaths and injuries. 'I would submit that it would be completely unacceptable to the people of SA, who have been following what has been said (in the inquiry), if police (are found) not to blame for anything,' he said, according to a report on the News24 site. 'A finding by this commission that the police are not responsible for any of the deaths will undermine the administration in our country and the rule of law.' Bizos said there was 'not a single scratch on any policeman' and asked what inference could be drawn from this. 'Breaking the strike was not the police's business,' he noted. Full report on the News24 site

The commission should report to President Jacob Zuma that his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa acted unwisely, Ngcukaitobi said, according to another report on the News24 site. 'The question is whether Mr Ramaphosa should be held accountable for use of political pressure on the police,' he added. Ramaphosa was a non-executive director and shareholder in Lonmin at the time of the strike-related violence. He phoned the Minister of Police to ask that police presence be increased around Marikana as a deterrent to strike violence. Commission chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, asked what he thought the commission could practically do in this regard, as Ngcukaitobi agreed Ramaphosa could not be held civilly or criminally liable. 'Do you want us to tell the world... you (Ramaphosa) acted badly,' Farlam asked. Bizos suggested the word 'unwisely'. Ngcukaitobi said: 'One does not know where this ends... from an ethical point of view it was wholly inappropriate. It can be recorded that it was improper for him to exercise political pressure. 'We don't suggest Mr Ramaphosa should be held criminally responsible, but he should be held accountable.' Full report on the News24 site All the final arguments