Marikana striker attacked cop: witness

Ian Farlam. File picture: Oupa Mokoena

Ian Farlam. File picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published May 20, 2014

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Pretoria - A striker in Marikana attacked a police officer with a spear during a violent strike, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard in Pretoria on Tuesday.

The officer fired shots at the striker, who was about 1.5 metres from him, Lt-Col Stephen James McIntosh said.

McIntosh said he did CPR on the striker and noticed he had straps with bags on him.

Members of the tactical response team told McIntosh “the bags had muthi”. He said Mgcineni “Mambush” Noki had threatened to burn police Nyala vehicles and kill police.

“The police were dealing with an armed mob who didn't want to surrender weapons.”

McIntosh said the strikers were aggressive.

Heidi Barnes, for the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, disputed McIntosh's evidence that a striker had threatened him, because he did not mention it in his statement made on August 19, 2012.

“The threats were made, the fact that they were not recorded doesn't mean it did not happen,” McIntosh said.

Threats were made on August 15 and 16, 2012 and mentioned in McIntosh's supplementary statement.

McIntosh was a hostage negotiator in Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West, when the miners were on strike in August 2012.

The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people during the violent strike. Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were killed on August 16, 2012, when police fired on them while allegedly trying to disarm and disperse them.

Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed during the preceding week.

Noki was described as “the man in the green blanket” in a series of articles in The Star. Noki was among those killed on August 16.

Sapa

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