Top NPA men in Marikana probe

05 October 2015 - 02:09 By Sipho Masombuka

The National Prosecuting Authority has put its most senior prosecutors in charge of the investigation into the criminal liability of policemen involved in the Marikana massacre in August 2012. The report of the Marikana Judicial Commission of Inquiry, issued in June, recommended that the policemen who shot the miners be investigated for "criminal liability".The commission concluded that the police operation, in which 34 striking Lonmin miners were killed, was tactically defective.It recommended that the investigation include independent experts in crime scene reconstruction, ballistics and forensic pathology. It said senior investigators from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate should be included in the team.Led by a member of the police's Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, Torie Pretorius SC, the team is made up of four expert prosecutors and seven senior Ipid investigators.NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said the independent experts would be appointed to the team when their expertise was required."The prosecuting members of the team are highly experienced in organised crime and general prosecution," Mfaku said.Anthony Minnaar, professor of criminology at the University of Pretoria, said that, in respect of national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, the investigation was about accountability.Today is the deadline for the police to reveal to pressure groups Right2know and the Marikana Support Campaign what steps have been taken in respect of "police wrongdoing at Marikana"...

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