Johannesburg - New evidence suggests that the killing of 34 Marikana mineworkers happened “exactly” as the police planned it, the Sowetan newspaper reported on Thursday.
A video taken two days after the shooting last year showed Brigadier Adriaan Calitz addressing uniformed officers at the police base at Lonmin's Marikana mine in Rustenburg, in North West.
He said the plan to disperse the miners had been highly effective.
“At this stage we did nothing wrong. From the planning to the execution (it) was 110 percent... I have to congratulate you,” Calitz, one of the commanders in the Marikana operation, was quoted as saying.
“Exactly how we planned it and we briefed the commanders, exactly we executed in that line.”
The statements could be seen as a contradiction to evidence given by police before the Farlam Commission of Inquiry investigating the incident.
Police told the commission they had a solid plan which was disrupted and that led to the killing of the 34 mineworkers at Lonmin's platinum mine on August 16, 2012.
The 13-minute Calitz video forms part of new evidence recently unearthed by evidence leaders on police hard drives. Previously, police had said they had turned in all evidence they had to the commission.
The Sowetan report follows a similar report by the online publication The Daily Maverick. - Sapa