Court can move on Marikana -- Zuma

LAWYERS for President Jacob Zuma say those pressing for the quick release of the report on the Marikana massacre should take their fight to the Constitutional Court.

They say Zuma needs time to study the political ramifications of the report.

Zuma has told parliament it will be made public by the end of the month, but survivors of the August 2012 tragedy have approached the High Court in Pretoria for the Farlam report to be released by Tuesday. The matter is scheduled to be heard tomorrow.

Zuma’s answering affidavit states that only the highest court in the land has jurisdiction over whether the president has complied with his constitutional obligations.

The president’s affidavit says that every decision he takes on the release of the Marikana report raises important political questions.

Lonmin miner Mzoxolo Magidiwana and fellow applicants in the case, including the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, argue in court papers that Zuma’s failure to release the report is “irrational, unlawful and unconstitutional”.

Retired appeal court judge Ian Farlam, who chaired the commission that produced the report, said on Friday that it was an “extensive” document of more than 600 pages.

The report was handed to Zuma on March 31 and there has been intense public pressure for it to be released.

Zuma, in his affidavit, stresses that he is a busy man. “Had I only been required to study the Marikana report then I would certainly have been able to do so sooner,” he says.

August 16 marks the third anniversary of the day 34 miners were shot dead during a strike at Lonmin’s platinum mines in Marikana, North West. Ten others, including security guards and a policeman, had been killed in the days before.

Survivors involved in the court case fear that delays will affect their ability to prepare for the civil lawsuits they intend to lodge against those who are held responsible for the massacre.

They also highlight concerns that the North West provincial police commissioner, Zukiswa Mbombo, who was on duty on the day of the attack, has retired ahead of the report’s release.

Zuma, in his affidavit, says Mbombo’s departure from the service would not absolve either her or national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega from liability. He denies that Mbombo retired as a result of the findings of the commission.