Rustenburg -
The Marikana commission of inquiry toured the Karee mine shaft on Tuesday afternoon, where a mineworker was allegedly killed by strikers.
Mine security manager Henry Blou led the judicial commission, which is chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, to several places where cars had been set alight.
“The assault took place on August 12. The name of the gentleman (killed) was Thapelo Eric Mbebe. He was an underground mining vehicle operator at this mine,” said Blou.
In a parking bay near the marked place where Mbebe was killed, were smashed glass and charred car parts.
Blou said a vehicles was burnt next to the place where Mbebe was attacked.
“Here, another private vehicle was torched. An ambulance crew later removed him from the point where he had been assaulted and took him that side,” Blou said, pointing to a covered parking.
Lonmin representative Natasha Viljoen said there were photographs of the burnt vehicles, which the mine had since removed.
The commission also visited the Nkaneng informal settlement, near the hill were 34 Lonmin miners were killed on August 16.
Police raided the settlement in the weeks following the shooting.
The three-member commission, advocates, observers and journalists walked north through the area. A resident showed the commission where the police stood just before the raid.
A woman said she saw about four police vehicles.
“I was scared,” she said through a translator.
Some of the mineworkers, who had gathered on the hill near the settlement prior to the shooting, were standing at the outskirts of Nkaneng when the police arrived.
The woman said the men had put down their traditional weapons, but police had still fired.
“The children are still traumatised when they see police in uniform,” she said.
Farlam asked the woman not to give evidence, but to point out where things had happened.
Curious Nkaneng residents joined the group as it made its way through the informal settlement.
The commission also went to look at the site where a councillor was shot. He died in hospital later. Farlam was shown bullet holes in some of the shacks. - Sapa