APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) Some 11 years after the South African police shot dead 34 miners and injured scores of others at a platinum mine in Marikana near Rustenburg in North West province, the government has finalised reparations for 90 percent of the victims, lawyer Andries Nkome has said.
According to Nkome, who represented those who were arrested and injured after the incident, the claims of 90 percent of the 229 arrested mineworkers as well as 10 of the 14 who were injured have now been settled.
The killings took place on 16 August 2012 when police officers shot striking workers at Lonmin Platinum Mine in Marikana in the deadliest strike in the democratic dispensation.
Nkome was speaking to the press ahead of Wednesday’s commemoration of the massacre which left most of the claimants injured and suffering from arrests, prosecution, or detention in relation to the Marikana massacre.
The shooting resulted in 34 mineworkers being killed while 78 others were injured in the incident after the workers had embarked on an illegal strike demanding to be paid at least US$830 a month.
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been accused of dragging its feet on the prosecution of the police officers responsible for the massacre.
The widows and families of the victims were still demanding justice. The NPA, however, has blamed the delay on a shortage of human resources.
Scores of mineworkers are Wednesday expected to gather at the Marikana hill to commemorate the killing of their comrades over a decade ago at the very spot.
NM/jn/APA