LEGAL AID DIRECTED TO FUND REPRESENTATION FOR VICTIMS AT MARIKANA COMMISSION

SERI represents the families of 36 of the deceased miners killed at Marikana. The families pulled out of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry in solidarity with the arrested and injured miners who were denied state funding for their representation at the Commission. The families were a party to the legal proceedings to secure this funding.

Today the Pretoria High Court ordered Legal Aid South Africa (Legal Aid) to fund the legal representation of the arrested and injured miners at the Marikana Commission. The court recommended to Legal Aid that that the miners' current legal team - consisting of two counsel and a firm of attorneys - be maintained. The court found that Legal Aid's decision to fund the legal representation of the families and not the miners "cannot be justified on any rational basis" and refusal to provide funding to the miners was unlawful.

Judge Makgoka held that the goals of the Marikana Commission could not be achieved "without the full and effective participation" of the miners. The Judge found that the families' rights to dignity would be infringed by a failure to ensure the miners' participation. He also accepted arguments made by SERI, on behalf of the families of the deceased miners that, without the surviving miners, the families' participation in the Commission would be meaningless.

SERI welcomes the judgment, and wishes to confirm that lawyers for the families of the deceased miners and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) will continue to participate in the Marikana Commission's proceedings from tomorrow, 15 October 2013.

According to Nomzamo Zondo, attorney for the families: "This judgment is a victory for the victims of Marikana who stood united in the fight for the funding of the injured and arrested miners. The families feel vindicated that their decision to withdraw from the Commission in order to support the miners was warranted, even though they themselves were funded. The families are excited to return to the Commission and continue their search for the truth. Ubunye ngamandla."

Stuart Wilson, SERI's executive director said: "Judge Makgoka has restored the soul of the Marikana Commission. His careful, sensitive and compassionate judgment affirms the dignity, not only of the miners themselves, but also of the families of those who fell at Marikana. It would be a sign of equal grace and compassion if the state and Legal Aid chose not to appeal the judgment. It is clearly in the public interest for that the Commission finishes its work as soon as possible, with the full participation of the miners. Justice will not be served if the miners continue to participate in the Commission with the threat that their legal funding taken away on appeal."

SERI instructed advocates Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, Heidi Barnes and Nicole Lewis to appear in court on behalf of the families and AMCU.

Statement issued by Stuart Wilson, executive director of SERI, October 14 2013

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