Rights commission: We warned you!

17 January 2014 - 03:13 By SIPHO MASOMBUKA
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Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. File photo.
Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. File photo.
Image: Gallo/ Beeld/Lisa Skinner

Three lives would not have been lost in Mothotlung, North West, had the police implemented recommendations on how to manage protests without the use of deadly force, the SA Human Rights Commission has said.

The commission said it was disappointing that the police leadership appeared not to have heeded its recommendations, made after an investigation into the death of Andries Tatane in 2012 during a service-delivery protest, in the Free State.

The commission had recommended improved training of officers in managing gatherings and that a training manual be developed for the police's public riot unit.

"We believe loss of life could have been avoided . had the SAPS moved with necessary speed to implement some of these recommendations," said commission spokesman Isaac Mangena.

As the army moved in to supply water to Mothotlung residents yesterday, the DA said that Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa had been aware of the potential water crisis as early as 2009.

The party's Marti Wenger said replies to parliamentary questions from 2010 proved that Molewa, a former North West premier, knew that water was not purified regularly in the municipality, which owes more than R36-million to the Magalies Water Board. Mothotlung was only 64% compliant with the prescriptions of Molewa's department.

"Despite her knowledge of these shortcomings, both in her capacity as premier and now as minister of water affairs, Molewa did nothing," Wenger said.

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