Witnesses claim police role in mine deaths ‘cover-up’

Published Sep 9, 2011

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SHAIN GERMANER

THREE State witnesses have claimed that police or mine security had tried to cover up the deaths of four illegal miners shot dead during a violent gunfight.

The three were testifying against Bradford “Bad Brad” Wood, Nico Pretorius, Herbie Trouw, Willem Coetzer and Mickey Mazelem, who are facing four charges of murder and five of attempted murder after illegal miners were shot dead at the Aurora Mine in Benoni last year.

France Mkhabela told the Delmas High Court yesterday that he had driven several of the illegal miners to the Ndlovu shaft a day before they were shot dead.

On the day of the incident, he had returned to the mine after hearing about the violence from a family member of one of the dead men.

Mkhabela and the family member were told by a police captain and Wood there had been a violent incident at the shaft.

The pair went to report the crime to the Springs police station, where they were told that five illegal miners had been arrested, but none killed.

Two days later, on August 11, Mkhabela uncovered the dead miners in the darkened shaft in the presence of a journalist from the Sowetan.

The State’s next witness, Constable Jacques Reynders, said he had been called to the scene on the day of the incident and had spent several hours near the scene, but no one had mentioned a major battle having taken place underground.

Reynders said he had spoken to both Pretorius and Mazelem, but neither had told him about the four men killed.

SAPS Flying Squad member James Daschner, who said he had been to the scene to arrest the five surviving miners, corroborated the story.

The State’s final witness for the day, medical examiner Dr Solly Skosana, said he had seen the bodies only three days after the incident. He said the gunshot wounds on the four indicated close-range firing.

Skosana also said no bullet could be found in the body of the first dead man. He had a large entry wound but no exit wound.

Wood and Pretorius’s legal representative, Christo Meiring, pointed out that police statements indicated the bodies had been removed at 4.20pm on August 12, while Skosana’s autopsy reports had been written at 9am on the same day, an indication the doctor’s testimony might be inaccurate.

Meiring also argued that close-range firing would have created an exit wound on the body of the first dead man.

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