Rustenburg - The inquiry into the shooting at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West, should be postponed, a lawyer for families of the victims requested on Monday.
Dumisa Ntsebeza said the 20 families he represented were in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, and did not know that the inquiry was starting on Monday.
“They were not told by the commission or anyone else, they are in the rural areas,” he said.
He told the commission conducting the inquiry in Rustenburg that the families only became aware of the hearing when attorneys went to consult them in the Eastern Cape.
“The families want to see where their loved ones fell.... we have a great deal of problems,” he said, requesting the commission to postpone the hearing for 14 days.
“They are parties that ought to be assisted.”
Ntsebeza said the state should assist the families so that they could travel to Rustenburg, as they wanted to be at the public hearings and the inspection.
Ntsebeza said he also needed more time to collect information.
Dali Mpofu, for the arrested miners, supported Ntsebeza’s application for a postponement.
He told the hearing that the wounded mineworkers would want financial assistance, made available by government to the Marikana
commission.
The commission adjourned for a tea break after which the matter would be discussed further.
Commission chairman, Judge Ian Farlam, said he had been informed that the department of social development was making arrangements for the families to be brought to Rustenburg.
A total of 34 people were killed and 78 wounded in a shooting when police tried to disperse striking workers at Lonmin on August 16.
Another 10 people were killed in violent protests the preceding week. - Sapa