Lawyer for Marikana victims expects delays in remaining matters
The lawyer representing victims of the Marikana tragedy whose matters are currently before the Pretoria High Court has said he has little faith they will be settled by the end of this month.
Earlier on Wednesday, solicitor-general Fhedzani Pandelani said that half of the 48 matters in court have been settled – adding he was hopeful all the matters would be concluded by the end of the month, as prescribed by the court.
But lawyer, Andries Nkome says confirmed the settlements announced this afternoon; however, he expects the state to delay the remaining cases.
“The arrested were compensated in 2018, and not all of them have been compensated. To this day not even one of the injured has been compensated,” he says.
Nkome said the state had to be pushed to get to court to calculate the amounts due to the claimants, which was set down by Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba from 25 July to 19 August.
“Already only 23 has been settled and it looks as if, in relation to the rest, the state will dig its heels in and make unreasonable offers which will necessitate that those matters be settled in court – after argument.”
He said it’s shameful that it’s taken this long for the matters to receive the necessary attention.
“What we had anticipated was that immediately after the massacre took place, we would have been able to sit with government and settle these matters a long time [ago] – already in 2012.”
However, Pandelani said he was hopeful that the matters would be finalised by the end of the month.
“I can also give the assurance that to the extent that is possible, we could be in a position to resolve all of those matters within this month.”
He said government remains committed to finalising reparations, adding that it was regrettable that it had taken nearly ten years to get this far.
“We did report specifically last year to debunk the narrative that government has not been doing anything for the past nine years in relation to settlement in these matters.”
Pandelani said the delays were brought on by several factors, including that before now government did not have policies to support early settlement of such matters – but this would change after cabinet approved a binding policy developed by his office late last year.
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