Lonmin arrest: MP to probe beating claims?

Striking mineworkers throw stones as police open fire on striking miners at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. South African police opened fire Thursday on a crowd of striking workers at a platinum mine, leaving an unknown number of people injured and possibly dead. Motionless bodies lay on the ground in pools of blood. (AP Photo)

Striking mineworkers throw stones as police open fire on striking miners at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. South African police opened fire Thursday on a crowd of striking workers at a platinum mine, leaving an unknown number of people injured and possibly dead. Motionless bodies lay on the ground in pools of blood. (AP Photo)

Published Aug 28, 2012

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Cape Town -

The acting chairwoman of Parliament’s police oversight committee, Annelize van Wyk, has asked for permission to visit police stations in North West to investigate allegations that mineworkers arrested after the police shooting at Marikana have been assaulted.

Van Wyk said on Monday she would wait for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to complete its investigation into the allegations before going ahead with the visit.

“I want to make sure the Ipid report is done by the time we go so that people don’t say they can’t answer questions because there is an investigation,” she said.

Investigators from the Ipid have taken affidavits from miners detailing how they were beaten - allegedly by a North West police task team over the weekend at five or more police stations - indicating the possibility of orders having been given from above to assault them.

Van Wyk said the committee wished to carry out its own investigation into the beatings.

She had applied to the chairman of chairs in Parliament, ANC MP Cedric Frolick, for permission for some of the committee’s members to pay an oversight visit to the North West police stations at which miners were being held.

She said she would wait for a response from Frolick.

Frolick said he had not yet seen the request, but the turnaround time for permission was about 24 hours.

Van Wyk said two ANC MPs and two from the opposition would visit the miners.

Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said a report on the beatings was handed to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Monday. It was not a final report as the investigation was continuing.

Concerns have also been raised about the conditions in which the 250 mineworkers are being held. - Pretoria News

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