National
Marikana inquiry cost R153m: report─── 10:30 Sun, 05 Jul 2015
Johannesburg - The Marikana inquiry into the killing of 34 mineworkers in 2012 cost a total of R153 million, according to the Sunday Times.
Justice department spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga told the newspaper that the inquiry cost R31.9 million in 2012 when it sat from October to December.
During 2013 and 2014 it cost R68.3 million and in the 2014/15 financial year R53 million.
The commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, sat for almost 300 working days since it started in 2012.
It was tasked with probing the deaths of 44 people during a violent strike at Lonmin’s platinum mine at Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West, in August 2012.
A total of 34 people were killed by police, 78 wounded, and 250 arrested on August 16, 2012. Ten people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the previous week.
Mhaga told the Sunday Times the funding for the commission had been reallocated from various other projects that were not progressing as planning during the relevant financial years.
He said the funding was also diverted from alternative projects which were less of a priority than the commission.
The final report on the commission's work was handed to President Jacob Zuma at the end of March. He released the 600-page report on June 25, after a lengthy battle to have the report released.
The report's recommendations included that an inquiry be held on the fitness of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and North West Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo to hold office, and that the killings and assaults be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further investigation.
