Marikana pressure groups stage protest at Police headquarters

05 October 2015 - 19:11 By Sipho Masombuka

Civil society pressure groups today (Monday) waited outside police headquarters in Pretoria for information on what steps have been taken against Marikana "killer cops". Right2know and the Marikana Support Campaign invoked the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to demand that the South African Police Service (SAPS) reveal what steps it has taken in the past three years to act on its members’ wrongdoing at Marikana.The groups first put in this request after the release of the Farlam Commission report. The initial 30-day deadline for a response was extended by another 30 days‚ at SAPS’s request. The organisations claimed a further extension of the deadline using a technicality of the act‚ despite the extension they had already requested. Today is the final deadline for these answers.The groups said they will lodge an internal appeal with minister of police Nathi Nhleko if the SAPS fail to hand over the information today.The groups submitted a request in terms of PAIA to the SAPS for answers to these questions: 1. Has the SAPS taken any steps to identify police members who may have exceeded the bounds of justifiable force at Scene 1 and Scene 2? If so‚ what? 2. Has the SAPS initiated criminal investigations or disciplinary measures against any of these members? 3. How many of the officers involved in the killing are still carrying firearms? 4. Do any of the members of the SAPS who were involved in the killings at Marikana continue to serve in NIU‚ SDF‚ TRT or K9 units? 5. Have any steps been taken to review the suitability and fitness of members of the SAPS who were involved in the killings at Marikana to continue serving in the SAPS? 6. Have any steps been taken to assess the impact of participation in the events at Marikana on members of the SAPS who were involved?..

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