RADEBE SEEKS AMENDED COMMISSION RULES
North West - Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has called for the Farlam commission's rules on paying for dead miners' families to attend the inquiry to be amended, an official said on Monday.
“The department has liaised with the commission this morning (Monday) to convey its intention to submit the proposed amendment to the president before the end of business... today,” justice department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said in a statement.
“Mr Jeff Radebe regrets any confusion and misconception that may have been created by the decision taken by the department this past Saturday.”
On Saturday, the department said it would no longer fund the attendance, at the commission's hearings in Rustenburg, of the families of 34 miners killed in a police shooting at Marikana on August 16.
It said some of them had said they would prefer to have the travel money paid directly to them, as they were struggling as a result of the loss of their breadwinners.
Mhaga said on Monday that the interests of the families were being safeguarded by “seasoned legal representatives” at the commission.
“Government has the interests of the families of victims at heart, hence we are working tirelessly to salvage the situation.”
Evidence leader Mbuyiseli Madlanga told the commission on Monday: “ (The department said) it will fund the families who are willing to attend the proceedings. (However) I don't think anyone was forced to attend.”
Madlanga said the justice department was looking for a statutory amendment. “They are pushing to have this done today.”
On Monday, the commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, began dealing with issues relating to the funding of the families, Legal Aid assistance for the 78 miners wounded in the shooting and the 275 arrested, and the arrests of Lonmin mineworkers who attended the hearing last week.
Dumisa Ntsebeza, who represents the families at the commission, said they were entitled to attend. He called for the hearings to be halted until the families could be there.
“We are not able at this stage, to ascertain the veracity of the undertakings made... (to fund the families' attendance),” he told the commission. - Sapa