Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Friday said he had asked the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to investigate claims of police brutality at Lonmin.
“[The] allegations of police brutality... have just been brought to the attention of the minister of police,” his spokesman Zweli Mnisi said.
“He immediately tasked the head of the Ipid directorate, Francois Beukman, to investigate these allegations and give him a report urgently.”
Mnisi said the allegations of brutality against mineworkers who were arrested were brought to Mthethwa's attention at an inter-ministerial meeting in Rustenburg in the North West.
“The minister would then make pronouncements based on these findings.”
Last week Thursday, 260 miners were arrested during protests at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West. They face charges of public violence. Police shot and killed 34 people while trying to disperse protesters at the mine. Over 78 people were wounded. Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the week preceding the clash.
The mineworkers appeared in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate's Court on Monday, where the case was postponed to next week. - Sapa