By Hassan Isilow
PRETORIA, South Africa
Lawyers representing the Marikana Miners filed a court application on Monday to compel South African President Jacob Zuma to immediately release the official report of inquiry into the killing of 34 mineworkers in 2012 in Northwest province.
“We filed the court papers today and the case will be heard in court next week Monday,” Andries Nkome, a lawyer representing the miners, told Anadolu Agency.
He said they took the decision to file the court application after having a long discussion with the injured and arrested mine workers over the weekend.
“The miners believe the president has taken a long time to release the report,” the lawyer said. “They say he should have taken a month to study the report but not three months.”
Nkome also said his clients will have little time to make civil claims if the president releases the report by the end of June, so they want the court to compel him to release it immediately.
“Some of our clients say they have lost trust in the president,” he added.
In August 2012, police shot and killed 34 mineworkers in Marikina during a protest over wages near the Lonmin platinum mine in Northwest province.
Over 70 other striking miners were injured during the incident, which some observers compared to the dark days of apartheid, when police used to apply excessive force to quell demonstrations.
After the shootings, the president appointed a judicial commission of inquiry that heard accounts from witnesses, policemen and unions over a 300-day period.
The commission finally concluded its work three months ago and handed its report over to the president, who has since been reluctant to make it public.
However, as result of growing pressure from members of the opposition and civil society groups, the president last week saıd he will release the report before the end of June.
