Marikana witness threatened

Witnesses testifying at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, in Rustenburg, North West, must not be intimidated, chairman judge Ian Farlam said yesterday.

"It is important for all of us that the commission is allowed to do its work without anyone being intimidated," he said.

"Up to now, the commission has proceeded in a harmonious fashion. It is important for the commission to work properly to ascertain the truth of these events. All witnesses that come to testify should be able to do so without fear or violence ..."

Farlam was speaking at a hearing of the commission, at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, after a witness said that he could no longer sleep at his home because three men were looking for him.

Dali Mpofu, representing injured and arrested miners, called Vusimuzi Mandla Mabuyakhulu to testify.

Mabuyakhulu is a 32-year-old rock-drill operator at Lonmin's Karee mine.

The inquiry heard that he had been a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) but had joined the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

Speaking through a translator, he told the inquiry that someone at the commission had told him not to go home. Since then, he had been living with his lawyers.

"On Tuesday I was approached by a person at the commission saying members of the NUM were looking for me," he said.

"I was not feeling very safe."

Karel Tip, representing the NUM, said Mpofu told him yesterday morning about the warning and said it was "unfortunate" that it had not been brought to his attention earlier.

"No event of this kind would have been sponsored by any structure of the NUM," Tip told the commission.

He assured the commission that the union was opposed to "any sort of unlawful intimidation".

Farlam told Mabuyakhulu that the commission would do its best to ensure that anyone found intimidating a witness faced "the full wrath of the law".

"We will see to it ... that you receive protection,'' he added.