South
Africa mine massacre photos prompt claims of official cover-up
Police
accused of planting weapons next to Marikana miners' bodies in
bloodiest such incident since end of apartheid
6
November, 2012
Police
in South Africa have been accused of planting weapons on the bodies
of dead miners as part of an official cover-up of the Marikana
massacre, in August.
Damning
photographic evidence was presented to an independent commission of
inquiry examining the deaths of 46 people during nearly six weeks of
violent strikes at the Lonmin-owned mine.
The
revelation follows a series of media reports alleging that on the
worst day of bloodshed, when 34 striking miners were killed, some
were subjected to execution-style shootings away from the TV cameras.
Photographs
taken by police on the night of 16 August showed more weapons by the
bodies than photos taken immediately after massacre, the commission
was told. The crime scene expert Captain Apollo Mohlaki, who took the
night pictures, admitted the discrepancy.
In
one picture, a dead man is seen lying on rocky ground near the mine;
a second picture, taken later that same day, is identical except that
a yellow-handled machete is now lying under the man's right hand.
Mohlaki said he saw the weapon under the man's arm in the night photo
he took, but when looking at the day photo of the same body, he said
of the weapon: "It is not appearing. I don't see it."
George
Bizos, a veteran human rights lawyer representing the mine workers,
said the evidence presented at the commission indicated an attempt to
alter the crime scene.
"The
evidence clearly showed there is at least a strong prima facie case
that there has been an attempt to defeat the ends of justice,"
he said. "Changing the evidence is a very serious offence."
Bizos,
who defended Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia trial, half a century
ago, called for high-ranking officials to be brought before the
commission to explain whether they granted colleagues permission to
move traditional weapons from where they had been found.
Ishmael
Semenya, a police representative, said the national police
commissioner, Riah Phiyega, had launched an investigation two weeks
previously, after receiving evidence that one of the crime scenes had
been tampered with.
But
Bizos said Phiyega's investigation was not to be trusted because of
her public statements shortly after the massacre. Three days later,
Phiyega was quoted as saying: "Safety of the public is not
negotiable. Don't be sorry about what happened."
Video
evidence shown to the inquiry on Monday also indicated that some of
the slain miners may have been handcuffed. Family members at the
hearing wept as they saw two lifeless bodies with their hands tied
behind their back.
When
asked if he had seen whether any of the dead miners' hands were
bound, Mohlaki said he had not. "If I am looking at the video,
there is a person handcuffed possibly, but on the day I did not
observe that," he said.
In
one of the videos, police can be heard joking and laughing loudly
next to the dead bodies, which lie scattered amid dust and blood.
Bizos called for a transcript of what the police were saying.
In
August, television footage of police opening fire on the miners
caused shock around the world. And in subsequent weeks, the
journalist Greg Marinovich produced a series of reports for the Daily
Maverick website pointing to evidence that some of the miners had
died at a second site, having probably been killed in cold blood.
Autopsy reports allegedly show that several of the dead had bullet
wounds in the back.
On
Monday Dali Mpofu, a lawyer representing about 270 injured and
arrested miners, told the inquiry: "Evidence is going to be led
to the effect that the people at scene two were hiding away when they
were shot."
Mpofu
said one of the bodies recovered from the scene, known as Body C,
stood out from the rest because it was "riddled" with 12
bullet wounds; all the other bodies had single bullet wounds.
The
massacre of 34 workers was the bloodiest security incident since the
end of apartheid, in 1994. The inquiry has heard that at least 900
bullets‚ "400 live rounds and 500 rubber bullets", were
fired that day. It followed 10 fatalities, including those of two
police officers who were hacked to death.
In
the immediate aftermath, the authorities sought to portray the
miners, who were striking illegally, as responsible for the violence.
Some 270 of the striking miners were arrested and charged with
murder, though the charges were later dropped.
The
strike ended in September after workers agreed a 22% pay rise with
the mine's owners, the platinum giant Lonmin.
The
inquiry began last month and is expected to continue for four months,
investigating the roles played by police, miners, unions and Lonmin
in the deaths. It has been plagued by complaints that family members
were unable to attend and allegations that police have arrested and
tortured witnesses. Mpofu told the commission last week: "One
person [said] he was beaten up until he soiled himself. Another lost
the hearing in his right ear and another had visible scarring."
With
their reputation already in tatters, the police have been criticised
for a lack of full disclosure to the commission, which last week was
shown a 41-minute police video that appeared to have missed out
everything important.
James
Nichol, a lawyer representing the families of the dead miners, said
of the photo anomaly: "Even the police service did not know
about these new photos until two Thursdays ago. Who concealed them
until then? It's astonishing they have not come to light until now.
"There
are only two possible conclusions: a cover-up and a systematic
planting of evidence."
Referring
to a video played to the commission, Nichol added: "What was
grossly offensive was that you see dead bodies and what you hear is
the raucous laughter of police officers."
Asked
if he suspected a police cover-up, David Bruce, a senior researcher
in the criminal justice programme at the Centre for the Study of
Violence and Reconciliation, said: "To my mind, there is no
question about that. When we're talking about a cover-up, we're
talking about something very elaborate. There's a massive pattern of
concealment that seems to permeate what the government is doing at
the moment."
The
police had followed an "illegal doctrine" of using maximum
force that could be traced back to the government, in particular to
the police minister, Nathi Mthethwa, Bruce added. "The issues of
responsibility do go very directly to the minister," he said.
"The police said the Friday after the massacre that they used
maximum force and you've got several incidents where the minister
recommended maximum force. As far as I'm concerned, it's an
open-and-shut case."
Bruce
called for Mthethwa and Phiyega to resign. "We have a government
who are completely shameless. If you have any integrity around the
office of the minister of police, something like that should have
been followed the next day by the resignation of the minister."
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