“It seems that these requests are only respected when there are pressure and public contention. That is what we are doing by coming here today.”

In July, the Marikana Solidarity Campaign and the Right2Know Campaign (R2K) filed a request, under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia), demanding that the SAPS reveals steps it has taken over the past three years to act on “its members’ wrongdoing at Marikana”.

A joint statement released by the two lobby groups earlier this month indicated that it had been more than 85 days since the demand was made.

“R2K and MSC 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. SAPS then claimed a further extension of the deadline using a technicality of the act, despite the extension they had already requested,” said the statement.

Police spokespersons could not be reached immediately for comment.

In August 2012, mineworkers at Lonmin’s platinum mine at Marikana went on a wildcat strike demanding a minimum salary of R12,500 a month.

They rejected the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and camped on top of a koppie near Nkaneng informal settlement demanding that Lonmin officials negotiate with them at the koppie.

The strike turned violent and 34 people, mostly mineworkers, died in a clash with police on August 16, 2012. The police were apparently attempting to disarm and disperse them.

Ten other people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

On June 25, President Jacob Zuma released the report of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe the 44 deaths and to make recommendations.