Pretoria - Orders to embark on a tactical operation prior to the deadly shooting of the striking Marikana miners came from the SAPS’s “national management”.
This was revealed by Captain Monwabisi Joseph Ntlati, who was commanding the North West police’s specialised Tactical Response Team (TRT) at the time of the massacre. He was testifying in the Claasen Board of Inquiry into suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s fitness for office on Wednesday.
The inquiry is investigating whether Phiyega and the police’s top leadership misled the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the killing of 34 striking miners by allegedly implementing a tactical option during a meeting a day before the shootings, among other issues. The order to disarm and disperse the miners is believed to be what led to the biggest loss of life in a single police operation in post-apartheid South Africa.
The Farlam Commission had in June last year cleared former police minister Nathi Mthethwa, ex-mining minister Susan Shabangu and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa for any wrongdoing in the incident. In February, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate announced that criminal charges had been opened against Phiyega and North West police commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo for defeating the ends of justice.
On Wednesday Phiyega, flanked by her lawyers, sat attentively as Ntlati – who was led by evidence leader advocate Ismail Jamie SC – presented the sequence of the fatal shooting to the commission, chaired by Judge Neels Claasen.
The commission heard that the senior police leaders had decided to implement the “fatal option” – the use of maximum force against striking miners – at a police national management forum meeting on August 15. The police’s initial operation included an encirclement plan that entailed using barbed wire to surround the striking miners on the koppie at Marikana, but it was replaced by the tactical option.
Ntlati’s testimony appeared to lift the lid on whether it was the North West police officials or the national police’s top brass who were responsible for issuing the order on August 16, 2012 that led to the killing of the miners at Lonmin’s mine near Rustenburg. Dozens more miners were wounded in the wage-related strikes.
“At about 14.30 on August 16, I received a message from Brigadier Adriaan Calitz that all commanders must report at forward holding area 1. We were briefed by Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan Scott in the presence of Brigadier Pretorius,” said Ntlati.
“During the briefing, we were informed that the national management instructed that the police must act against the armed strikers as they have to be disarmed and dispersed. The POP (public order police) members were to disperse the strikers and the TRT will encircle small groups and disarm them.”
Jamie asked Ntlati to explain who comprised police management. “When Colonel Scott used the term ‘national management’ had instructed that you must act, who did you understand he was referring to?”
Ntlati replied: “I understood that it was all the managers of the police are the ones instructing that we should act.”
Jamie asked: “You say all the management. Who does that include?”
Ntlati said he understood the message was coming from police generals, and “in their absence, it would be coming from those in charge”.
Unconvinced, Jamie asked again: “When police speak about national management, who are they referring to?”
Ntlati replied that “national management” referred to the national commissioner and divisional commissioners of the police, but didn’t include provincial top police officers.
The hearings were adjourned early on Wednesday as Phiyega’s attorney, William Mokhari SC, said he was not ready to cross-examine Ntlati.
Former police brigadier Lindela Mashigo, who was in the SAPS communication unit at the time of the massacre, is also expected to testify at the inquiry. Mashigo, who has been subpoenaed to testify today, is now spokesman for the Tshwane municipality.
Jamie indicated to the inquiry that Mashigo would be “a substantial witness” when he testified.
In September, President Jacob Zuma announced that he had set up the Judge Claasen-led board of inquiry into Phiyega’s fitness to hold office. Claasen chairs the three-member board. He is assisted by advocates Bernard Khuzwayo and Anusha Rawjee.
The terms of reference of the Claasen Inquiry include investigating whether Phiyega, acting with others in the SAPS leadership structures, “misled the commission” by hiding the fact that they had authorised the “tactical option” during a management meeting the day before the killings.
The Claasen Inquiry is also investigating whether Phiyega, while taking the decision to go the tactical route, could have foreseen the “tragic and catastrophic consequences which ensued”.
Pretoria News