* Inquiry into police killings and labour unrest in mines
* Police, govt in line for criticism
* ANC leadership race also comes into the open
By Mike Hutchings
MARIKANA, South Africa, Oct 1 (Reuters) – A retired judge
toured the spot where police killed 34 striking platinum miners
in August as he opened a judicial inquiry on Monday into South
Africa’s bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid.
Ian Farlam has four months to uncover the events surrounding
the Aug. 16 “Marikana massacre”, which sparked intense criticism
not only of the police but also of mining bosses, unions, the
ruling African National Congress (ANC) and President Jacob Zuma.
“Our country weeps because of the tragic loss, and this
commission will work expeditiously to ensure the truth is
revealed,” Farlam told a hearing in the platinum belt city of
Rustenburg, 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, the
town closest to the Lonmin-owned Marikana mine.
The names of the 34 dead, most of them from the poor Eastern
Cape province, were read out at the start of the inquiry before
lawyers for the police, victims’ families and 270 miners
arrested after the shootings locked horns over procedure.
The commission and its findings could be politically
damaging to Zuma and the ANC, especially if security forces are
found to have been as trigger-happy and ruthless as their
apartheid predecessors.
Continued…
