Johannesburg - Workers at Lonmin want an international forum to review the findings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the August 2012 killing of striking mineworkers by the police in Marikana.
Workers took exception to the exoneration of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and other executives at the world’s third biggest platinum producer, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa said in an interview yesterday, following the union’s feedback meeting with mineworkers and widows in Marikana.
Challenge
“They (mineworkers) have given us a mandate to go back and challenge the report. They want the commission to be reviewed, not by the government, but by an international forum.
“They don’t want a review for the sake of a review, but to unearth the truth,” Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said yesterday.
He said mineworkers had said that they intended to sue the state and Lonmin executives for the massacre.
The commission found Amcu had not exercised effective control over its members and supporters to ensure that they acted in a lawful manner. It also found that the union’s officials made inflammatory comments that aggravated the volatile situation.
“Amcu was not the majority union at the time, but the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was the majority. The Amcu leadership was called to help at the koppie when management could not. The koppie was a safe place where workers fled the violence,” said Mathunjwa.
The commission investigated the Marikana massacre in which 34 mineworkers were killed at a koppie at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, and also looked at the 10 murders of miners, police and security guards in the build up to the now infamous slayings.
Retired Judge Ian Farlam chaired the commission, which spanned over 300 days.
John Capel, an executive director for the Bench Marks Foundation, said yesterday that Lonmin received only a slap on the wrist despite its provocation of the mineworkers after refusing to speak to them and labelling them murderers.
“Workers were hoping for justice and all (Judge) Farlam said was that they be charged for attempted murder, that is a huge weakness in the report,” said Capel.
The Bench Marks Foundation is an independent organisation monitoring corporate performance in the field of corporate social responsibility.
It has penned several reports highlighting the conditions in which the mineworkers lived and the social volatility this represented as far back as 2007.
Control
Regarding NUM, the commission found the union had not exercised effective control over its members during the strike. It also encouraged non-striking members to report to work despite the danger they faced.
“NUM will thoroughly consider these findings and will take immediate cognisance of them in the conduct of future affairs,” David Spunzi, the newly elected NUM general secretary said on Friday.
The commission found Lonmin did not use its best efforts to resolve the disputes that arose between itself and its workers who participated in the unprotected strike on the one hand and between the strikers and those workers who did not participate in the strike.
Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara said on Friday that the company focused on living conditions and employee indebtedness, two burning issues that it believed would make a profound impact on the wellbeing of its employees.