Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance wants Parliament to adopt a bill to ensure compensation for the families of those killed during the wage strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine three years ago, party leader Mmusi Maimane said on Sunday.
The Marikana Victims Compensation Special Appropriation Bill would be presented to Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene when Parliament reconvenes in August, Maimane told journalists in Johannesburg.
”’The DA believes the dependents of the victims killed in Marikana in 2012 deserves financial compensation. The families suffered loss of income and hardship… this is a significant tragedy for our democracy and should be treated as such.
”The bill provides for the compensation of the dependants of victims with a fair, actuarial determination of past and future loss.”
President Jacob Zuma released the findings of the Farlam commission of inquiry on Thursday, nearly three years after 44 people, the majority striking miners, were killed during a wage strike at Lonmin’s operations in August 2012.
Thirty-four striking mine workers were killed on August 16, while ten people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
The commission found that Lonmin did not do its best to resolve disputes that arose between itself and its workers. It also found that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and its rival, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), did not exercise effective control over their members.
The commission called for an overhaul in public order policing and indicated that most of the officers were inadequately trained in crowd control. It recommended an inquiry into national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega’s fitness to hold office.
Maimane said Zuma had displayed a lack of urgency and compassion in dealing with the events at Marikana and with the report. He added that he believed that though retired judge Ian Farlam did a thorough investigation in accordance with the terms of reference of the commission, more needed to be done for the families.
”It is a disgrace that the president has taken no real action to right this terrible wrong. Three days after the release of the report it is clear that it has raised more questions than it has provided answers, with no sense of justice for those affected.”
When asked why the DA called for compensation only after the report was released, DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the party had called for help for the families before, but had to wait for due process to be followed and the commission to complete its work.
”We needed for the report to come out in order to justify compensation needed, we needed the report to be released and use it as a basis to ensure compensation.”
Maimane said former minister of police Nathi Mthethwa and national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega were accountable for the police’s actions at Marikana, and should be dismissed immediately. He rejected suggestions by Zuma that the opposition was using the report for political gain.
”This is not political point-scoring, this is asking for accountability and justice. It would be an insult to the people of South Africa for us as politicians to sit back and accept this injustice and lack of accountability. Minister Mthethwa and Phiyega should do the honourable thing and resign. If not, Zuma should dismiss them immediately.”
ANA