Marikana 'shooter' questioned

Dali Mpofu, SC, cross-examined North West deputy provincial commissioner Maj-Gen Ganasen Naidoo at the public hearings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.

 

"The importance of your evidence in the context of this commission is that you are the first shooter we are interacting with. I will not traverse on areas that have been covered already [by other lawyers]," Mpofu said as he began his examination after midday.

 

"This [Marikana] operation was one of the biggest in your career and in your life? This operation had the largest number of fatalities in your career."

   

Naidoo agreed. He said even though Marikana was not the biggest event he had been involved in, it was exceptional due to the resultant fatalities.

   

Mpofu went on: "Would it be fair to say on a personal level, this [operation] was a life changing experience for you. You are no  longer the same person you were before Marikana?" Naidoo agreed.

 

Mpofu asked Naidoo to explain if he had ever killed a person in any police operation before the 2012 events.

 

The policeman responded: "Never."

 

 Naidoo was one of the lead police commanders during the intervention to control a violent strike-related protest.

 

The commission led by retired judge Ian Farlam is probing the deaths of 44 people at Lonmin's platinum mining operations in Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West.

 

On August 16, 2012, 34 people, mostly striking miners, were shot dead and 78 people were wounded when police fired on a group gathered at a hill near the mine while trying to disarm and disperse them.

 

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the strike-related violence.

 

President Jacob Zuma established the inquiry shortly after the shootings.

 

 -Sapa