Marikana - Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) gathered at the Marikana police station outside Rustenburg on Friday, ahead of the arrival of party leader Julius Malema.
Party members, dressed in red T-shirts and berets, ululated and danced as they waited in front of the police station for Malema to arrive.
“O ya ya Malema, re sutelelelng re ya ya [He is going Malema, get out of our way],” they sang.
Passing motorists hooted and some had held clenched fists out of their car windows.
Malema was expected to lead an EFF delegation to lay criminal charges against Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, former Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega, former North West police commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo and mining company Lonmin for the role they played in the shooting that left 34 mineworkers dead in August 2012.
The EFF has long held view that Ramaphosa was in part responsible for the deaths of the mine workers. Ramaphosa held shares in Lonmin, among many financial interests he had in various companies, until he was appointed as deputy president in 2014, but at the time was a key figure in trying to resolve the dispute in the platinum sector.
The Farlam Commission of Inquiry, investigating the shooting, cleared Ramaphosa and Mthethwa of any wrongdoing.
Malema was expected to lay charges against Ramaphosa and Mthethwa of allegedly conspiring to kill mine workers. He would also lay a similar complaint against Lonmin management and of not doing enough to protect workers, while seeking to have Phiyega and Mbombo charged with ordering police to shoot the striking miners.
The Farlam commission found that Lonmin had not done its best to resolve disputes that arose between itself and its workers.
ANA