Johannesburg - The police plan to address strike-related unrest at Marikana last year did not include the use of live ammunition, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard in Centurion on Thursday.
“At no stage did the plan envisage the use of (live) ammunition. The plan had the backing of the skilled members to deal with any high risk situation,” said Lt-Col Duncan Scott.
Scott was presenting his 149-page statement to the commission, and detailed the police's role in stopping the unrest last year.
He played an important role in drafting the police plan to disperse and disarm the striking mineworkers. The plan was referred to as the “Scott plan”.
The events at Marikana did not go as he had initially planned, Scott said.
The commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the killing of 44 people during strike-related unrest near Lonmin's Marikana operations in North West.
Police shot dead 34 people - almost all of them striking mineworkers - while trying to disperse them on August 16, 2012.
Ten other people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
The commission will hear argument on Friday in an application to postpone the hearings.
Dali Mpofu, for the arrested and wounded miners, has submitted an application for the postponement of the commission until the issue of funding for the miners' legal team is resolved. - Sapa