Pretoria - North West deputy police commissioner General William Mpembe told the Farlam Commission of Inquiry on Monday how his colleague was killed by striking miners in Marikana.
“I couldn't count how many (attackers) there were... There were plus minus five of them who attacked Monene,” testified Mpembe.
“They had pangas and knobkerries.”
Mpembe was being cross-examined by Takalani Masevhe, for the family of slain Warrant Officer Tsietsi Monene.
A second officer, Sello Lepaku, was also killed in the attack.
Giving evidence in June, Mpembe said he and other officers were escorting armed mineworkers to a hill at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana.
The miners had told Mpembe they would hand over their weapons once they reached the hill.
One officer suddenly fired teargas and the miners turned and attacked police.
“I heard 1/8teargas 3/8 shooting. I then realised that strikers had turned against police. It wasn't a very good scene,” Mpembe said in June.
Lepaku was hacked and stabbed to death, Monene died after being hacked and shot to death. His service pistol was taken off him during the attack. It was unclear if the same weapon was used to kill him.
Mpembe told the commission that the officer who had fired the shot said he had received an instruction to shoot. It was never established who had given the instruction.
Masevhe asked on Monday how Mpembe and other officers managed to escape the attackers as they were a short distance from Monene when he was attacked.
“Monene was closer 1/8to the miners 3/8 than the other officers,” Mpembe said in response.
Masevhe wanted to know why Mpembe did not order the other officers to shoot at the attackers in an attempt to save Monene.
“It's not an easy instruction to say fire,” said Mpembe.
“Each member knows to defend themselves when under attack... In such circumstances, members can use their own discretion.”
Mpembe said he believed the striking mineworkers had intended to attack the police as they had refused to hand over their weapons when he asked them to.
The miners said they needed the weapons to protect themselves against members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Mpembe told the commission.
“It is not correct to say that NUM was going to attack... That is wrong. Members of NUM were not even present there (when the attack on Monene took place). It was only police,” said Mpembe.
The unrest at Lonmin was attributed to several factors, including wage negotiations and union rivalry between NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
The commission, sitting in Centurion, is investigating the circumstances that led to the death of 44 people during the strike-related unrest.
Police shot dead 34 people on August 16 2012. Ten other people, including Monene, were killed in the preceding week.
The inquiry continues.
Sapa