Marikana - The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will not rest until deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is jailed, party leader Julius Malema said on Friday.
“We are not going to rest until one of them is jailed,” Malema said after laying criminal charges against Ramaphosa and five others at the Marikana police station near Rustenburg.
“We have opened charges of attempted murder, murder and conspiracy to murder against Cyril Ramaphosa, Nathi Mthethwa, Susan Shabangu, Riah Phiyega, Zukiswa Mbombo and Lonmin.”
The crowd chanted “Juju, Juju”, Malema’s nickname, as he emerged from the police station’s charge office.
The charges relate to the killing of dozens of miners in Marikana during 2012.
A total of 44 people were killed during a violent wildcat strike at Lonmin that year – 34 of them were miners shot dead by police on August 16.
Ten others were killed in the preceding week, including two Lonmin security guards and two police officers.
The EFF believes Ramaphosa, who held shares in Lonmin and was a non-executive director at the platinum mining company at the time, was responsible for the deaths of the miners.
The Farlam Commission of Inquiry, appointed by President Jacob Zuma to investigate the shootings, cleared Ramaphosa, Shabangu and Mthethwa of any wrongdoing.
Malema said it was not correct to only implicate police commissioner Riah Phiyega and Zukiswa Mbombo, of whom the commission were highly critical of, as they were “small fish”. He said the “big fish” were Ramaphosa, Mthethwa and Shabangu.
“The police must use…all records of Cyril’s phone calls and emails. You might find that he even made calls to the President.”
Malema said the families of the 34 mineworkers must be paid R10 million each, and all injured people should be paid R5 million each in compensation.
He said they would monitor the progress of the case on daily basis until those implicated were arrested and prosecuted.
In a statement, acting North West police commissioner, Major General Jacob Tsumane, said the case would receive the necessary attention.
ANA