Lawyers representing hundreds of miners injured and arrested during the 2012 Marikana shooting have received about R5.13 million in legal fees, according to a report.
The Sunday Independent reported that Legal Aid SA estimated that the money paid to the lawyers, which included Dali Mpofu for the injured and arrested miners and Dumisa Ntsebeza for the dead miners families, could have helped up to 1000 people who qualified for legal assistance.
According to Legal Aid SA chief legal executive, Patrick Hundermark, for every R1m spent for the legal representation at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, 200 applicants who would otherwise qualify for assistance were refused help.
The figure was reportedly revealed in papers filed by families of the dead miners and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union in their response to Legal Aid SA's Supreme Court of Appeal application for leave to appeal against Pretoria High Court judge Tati Makgoka's October judgment.
Makgoka ordered Legal Aid SA to provide funding to injured Lonmin rock drill operator Mzoxolo Magidiwana, who was shot seven times, and his 352 colleagues injured and arrested during the shooting.
The inquiry into the shooting, which is led by retired judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related violence at Lonmin's platinum mining operations at Marikana.
Legal Aid SA had previously claimed that it would need R17m to pay the miners' lawyers, and that it would be at the cost of about 3800 poor people needing legal assistance.
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