The families of the victims of the Marikana massacre have accused the government of “grandstanding” and staging a “PR exercise” by claiming that the state will finalise reparations to claimants in the lawsuit by the end of the month.
On Wednesday, department of justice and constitutional development solicitor-general Fhedzisani Pandelani addressed a media briefing outlining that half of the 48 cases have been settled in the class action lawsuit.
These cases relate to mineworkers who were injured and those who suffered malicious arrest, prosecution or detainment in relation to the massacre in August 2012. Pandelani said the outstanding cases will be concluded before the end of the month.
Lawyer for the class action lawsuit, Andries Nkome, said the state has been dragging its feet in compensating the victims.
Nkome’s firm represents 53 injured and 279 arrested mineworkers.
“It is a pity that it happens now after 10 years. Our clients will not be happy with such actions and the little justice they are receiving after such a long period of time,” said Nkome.
He said it is highly unlikely that the pending matters will be settled before the end of the month.
“It looks as if there will be matters that will be argued on August 12 and I can tell you now that there will be glitches of matters that cannot be settled before end of this month. We will have to push and put all the proof in front of the courts and get the courts' determination on the amounts that should be paid out.”
In Wednesday's briefing, Pandelani said it was a “public relations [exercise] we need to have and unfortunately this public relations does not have a timing and it is timed towards the unfortunate incident that happened...”
"Some of the offers made by the state are unreasonable and it is a shame that today the state says it is a PR exercise and they are coming through to just allay fears that it happened 10 years back. This involves the lives of people whose bodies were riddled with bullets. It is a shame," Nkome said.
He said the claims of 23 injured workers were settled last week and on Monday but payments are yet to be made.
He also said the claims of 223 arrested workers were settled in 2018. Nkome did not want to disclose how much they were paid.
In August last year, the state paid R3.5m to one survivor in the ongoing lawsuit.
On the other hand, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri), which is representing 36 families of 37 mineworkers who were killed between August 13 and 16 2012, said the office of the solicitor-general has not responded to letters it wrote to it almost a year ago.
Seri attorney Asenathi Tukela said the organisation wrote a letter to Pandelani in August last year, asking for a meeting to discuss the compensation for the families of the deceased.
The families are seeking an apology from the state and damages for loss of support, emotional shock and psychological damage, emotional suffering and grief, and loss of parental care for minor children and spousal support for widows.
Tukela said only 34 families have been paid for their loss of support claim.
The families were paid a total of R71m.
"We last spoke with the state in August last year. They have not responded to the letters we have written to them. They just sent a response of acknowledgement and did not respond to our letters. What they did today was grandstanding. It was an insult to the families as we wrote a letter to them and they have not responded to it," said Tukela.
Pandelani said he is satisfied with the work his office has done in dealing with the matter.
"Our resolve has been that we need to deal with all the remaining matters in terms of litigation with regards to the Marikana massacre incident. True to our word, we have been engaging with our counterparts – the attorneys representing the injured and those who made claims.
"As I stand here today, there were 48 matters remaining. Half of those have been settled and the other matters are ongoing… I am comfortable justice has been done in relation to the reparations of these litigation matters," he said.
When contacted for comment regarding Tukela's claims, Pandelani said according to their records, there were no outstanding claims by Seri.
"I am in their formal event tomorrow and shall engage on their issues," he said in a text message.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
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