Marikana Killer Cops Still Walking the Streets: R2K and MSC call for the dismissal of implicated police!

7 July 2015

Following the release of the Farlam Commission report last week, the Right2Know Campaign and the Marikana Support Campaign have used the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to demand answers from SAPS on what steps it has taken in the past three years to investigate wrongdoing amongst its members.

The Farlam Commission report was released at the end of last month, three months after it was sent to the Presidency. The report has been met with disappointment from families of those who were killed and the survivors of the massacre, as well as social justice organisations.

The soft treatment given to the executive in the Commission’s findings has been highlighted in many analyses and reports. Many have expressed disappointment in the Commission’s failure to find anyone in particular to be responsible for the deaths of 34 miners on 16 August 2012. Rather, the Report, pins the blame on processes, or lack thereof, within the south African Police Services. The outrage over not acknowledging personal responsibility and accountability should not eclipse the question of what needs to be done to ensure that police who pulled the trigger, and others who implicated in unlawful action at Marikana, are held accountable.

Up until the very last day of the Commission the SAPS’s stance was that it had done nothing wrong at Marikana. Now that the report has been released it can no longer justify this stance. Despite the unsatisfactory nature of the report it clearly confirms there are considerable grounds for believing that a large number of SAPS members at Marikana acted unlawfully. The Report also indicates that several members of the SAPS deliberately mislead the Commission itself. The implication that these members acted unlawfully cannot – and should not – be disregarded by the SAPS.

The Commission found it likely that a number of SAPS members on the ground are guilty of murder and attempted murder. It concluded that there were adverse findings relating to Brigadier Calitz, Major General Naidoo, General Phiyega, Lieutenant General Mbombo and Major General Annandale, as well as the eight other officers who fired their weapons on automatic mode at Scene 2. The identity of those officers is known and the Report identifies them as having exceeded the bounds of justifiable force. We therefore call for the dismissal of these officials, and all others who are found to be implicated in the killings. We also call for General Phiyega to resign immediately from her position as Police Commissioner of the SAPS.

Despite its shortcomings, the Commission’s recommendation that these cases should be investigated for possible prosecution raises questions about what, if anything, the SAPS has done in the three years since the massacre:

1. Has the SAPS taken any steps to identify police members who may have exceeded the bounds of justifiable force at Scene 1 and Scene 2? If so, what?

2. Has the SAPS initiated criminal investigations or disciplinary measures against any of these members?

3. How many of the officers involved in the killing are still carrying firearms?

4. Do any of the members of the SAPS who were involved in the killings at Marikana continue to serve in NIU, SDF, TRT or K9 units?

5. Have any steps been taken to review the suitability and fitness of members of the SAPS who were involved in the killings at Marikana to continue serving in the SAPS? 

6. Have any steps been taken to assess the impact of participation in the events at Marikana on members of the SAPS who were involved?

R2K and MSC have submitted a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the SAPS for answers to these questions.

What about efforts to protect and promote the right to protest?

We welcome the Commission’s finding on the need to demilitarise the police urgently. As evidence leaders argued, in recent years South Africa saw a remilitarisation of police that was accompanied by a repoliticisation of the police.

This underscores how superficial the existing ‘demilitarisation’ effort by police appears to be, as announced by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko in May 2014. Since then, police have sought an extra R3,3 billion for Public Order Policing over four years, seeking more muscle for the policing of dissent. Many protesters across the country continue to experience harassment and brutality from police, as evidence by the 14 protesters killed by police since the start of 2014, and the at least 86 protestors killed by the police since 2004.

South Africans should be disappointed in the general lack of detail in the Commission’s findings on how better to protect the right to protest going forward. The Commission found that automatic rifles like the R5 should not be used to police protests, which is to be welcomed. But almost every other crucial question on reforming public order policing has been placed on hold by the recommendation that an expert committee be set up to deal with this issue. For example, the Commission has no clear finding on whether or not paramilitary units such as the Tactical Response Team should be involved in policing protests. The establishment of the Tactical Response Teams was a core part of the process of militarisation of the SAPS and these units need to be at the starting point of the focus of demilitarisation efforts.

Statement issued by Right2Know Campaign, July 7 2015