Pretoria - A handful of activists picketed at the SA Police Service headquarters in central Pretoria on Monday afternoon, demanding that the police divulge measures taken against officers involved in the August 2012 Marikana mass shooting of protesting Lonmin mineworkers.
“We hope that the police are not completely lawless. That they do respect the South African Constitution and the laws of our country. If the police don’t hand it to us (their response) we will apply to the executive and the Minister of Police,” said Rehad Desai of the Marikana Support Campaign (MSC).
“It seems that these requests are only respected when there is pressure and public contention. That is what we are doing by coming here today.”
In July, the Marikana Solidarity Campaign and the Right2Know Campaign (R2K) filed a request, under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia), demanding that SAPS reveals steps it has taken over the past three years to act on “its members’ wrongdoing at Marikana”.
A joint statement released by the two lobby groups earlier this month indicated that it had been more than 85 days since the demand was made.
“R2K and MSC first put in this request after the release of the Farlam Commission report. The initial 30-day deadline for a response was extended by another 30 days, at SAPS’s request. SAPS then claimed a further extension of the deadline using a technicality of the act, despite the extension they had already requested,” said the statement.
Police spokespersons could not be immediately reached for comment.
ANA