Live ammo at Marikana ‘broke rules’

Lawyers question why so many bullet wounds were high on bodies

THOBILE Mpumza was one of 13 miners killed at “koppie three” on August 16 last year during the strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine.

The 26-year-old appeared to be a protester recognisable to the police. In the police death reports submitted to the Farlam commission of inquiry this week, Mpumza’s identity is noted as “Rasta”.

Similarly, Mgcineni Noki, or the “man in the green blanket” whom the police considered one of the leaders of the Lonmin strike, is identified as “Noki” in their reports.

He was killed at “scene one” next to a cattle kraal near Nkaneng informal settlement.

According to autopsy reports submitted to the commission set up to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of 44 people at Marikana last year, Mpumza was shot 13 times, mainly in the chest and abdomen. Noki suffered five bullet wounds — also mainly in the upper body area.

Thabiso Thelejane, 56, was shot twice with a high-velocity firearm in the head at “koppie three”, according to the police reports.

It is these sort of fatal wounds that Dumisa Ntsebeza, an advocate acting for the families of the dead miners, this week sought to use to chip away at the police version of events that the officers had acted in self-defence at Marikana.

While cross-examining Brigadier Adriaan Calitz, who was the police operational commander at Marikana, Ntsebeza said the miners’ fatal wounds were, in the majority, on the upper body.

Nine miners were killed by wounds to the head and the face, 11 from wounds to the chest, seven suffered fatal injuries to the chest and abdomen, and the rest died from wounds to the neck, abdomen and pelvis.

These wounds, according to four lawyers at the commission, are contrary to the usual police method of firing at the lower bodies and legs of perceived dangerous individuals in a protest situation.

The police, it was suggested to the Sunday Times by one lawyer, were “shooting to kill rather than disperse the miners”. The nature of the miners’ wounds also appears to indicate a direct violation of police standing order 262, which outlines crowd management strategies during gatherings and demonstrations.

The standing order calls for a restriction or prohibition on the use of firearms and sharp ammunition, unless “on the command or instruction” of the operational commander.

More questions about the police’s use of lethal force and their intentions when confronting the protesting miners during the Marikana operation were raised when Judge Ian Farlam said that the

They were shooting to kill rather than disperse the miners

commission’s evidence leaders had instructed investigators to look into the use of shotgun bullets in the Marikana massacre. These were apparently not issued to police on the day, according to police documents.

The Sunday Times recently reported that miner Bonginkosi Yona had been killed by shotgun bullets and it confirmed with lawyers at the commission this week that another miner, Bongani Mdze, had also died from shotgun wounds.

The Sunday Times understands that no shotgun casings were found on the ground at “scene one” where Mdze and Yona were killed, and that there are strong suspicions that the shooters were inside the police Nyalas that had corralled miners at scene one.

According to one source, investigators are also trying to ascertain whether the shooters were police members or Lonmin private security personnel.