North West - Two women broke down in tears and had to be consoled on Tuesday when the Farlam Commission heard how two security guards were hacked to death.
The commission was told that the security guards' families wanted to give evidence at the inquiry.
It is tasked with establishing the cause of a shooting in which 34 striking Lonmin workers died and 78 were wounded when police opened fire while trying to disperse a group encamped on a hill in Nkaneng on August 16.
The workers had been carrying knobkerries, pangas, sticks and iron rods.
Workers at the mine went on strike on August 10, demanding a monthly salary of R12 500. Within four days, 10 people had been killed, two of them policemen and two of them security guards.
Family members of those killed sat in the first two rows of the auditorium at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, where the commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, is holding hearings. - Sapa